LEGAL MARIJUANA

Dopes can now buy dope legally in Colorado.  

That really doesn’t bother me because I don’t live in Colorado, and now that I’m too dang old to hit the slopes, the only part of Colorado I ever see is the inside of the Denver Airport.

For quite some time, I have felt that Marijuana, like booze, should be a state issue and not a federal one.  I catch a lot of flack from some of my conservative friends for holding such a “liberal” opinion.  But the way I see it, that’s not a liberal opinion at all, in fact it’s a very conservative one, and here’s why.  Conservatives are suppose to be in favor of a smaller, less powerful, less controlling federal government, and more powerful State and local governments.

The way I see it, people who want to live a certain way can vote with their feet and move to places where they can live the way they want to live.  It's way too soon to know if Colorado's new law will prove to be a mistake.  It's also too soon to know if some Colorado residents will move to states where weed is illegal as a result. But I can guarantee you this, there will be pot-heads moving to Colorado from all over the country.

I hope we don't lose sight of the collective right of states and other legally recognized communities to have the freedom to organize their lives the way they want.  Legalizing pot by state law should not ever over ride the rights of the individual counties within the state from outlawing it.

Man is a social animal and wants to live in a community among people with similar ideologies.  Pot-heads want pot, evangelicals want codes of decency, Amish want to reject modern technology, and members of certain faiths don't want to pay for birth control under Obamacare. What's wrong with that? 

If Colorado wants to legalize weed, fine. If Oklahoma doesn't, that's fine too. People who don’t like the laws in Oklahoma can move to Colorado and get stoned, but when they come to Oklahoma they will abide by our laws or spend some time in one of our jails.   Personally, I think letting dope become so important to you that you're willing to uproot your whole life just so you can have it legally all the time doesn't speak well of you.

My objection to both the progressive vision of one-size-fits-all government and some extreme notions of individual liberty is that they both lack the imaginative sympathy required to let groups of people organize their lives in the ways that will let the majority live the way they want to live.