The video is from earlier this year, but it is still significant. As a sidenote, I find it ironic that Arlen Specter claimed to have switched sides because the Republican Party had grown far “too conservative” under Bush, and yet it was President Bush in 2004 who literally saved Specter from losing his senate seat to a far more conservative challenger in the primary.

If conservatism means enthusiasm for war, using the federal government to oppose gay marriage and flag burning, and increasing state and individual interference by the federal government… then yeah, we’ve probably been too conservative.

However, if conservatism means advocating limited government, defending the Constitution and the restraints it puts on government, supporting freedom, protecting individual rights, and keeping America’s defense strong but unencumbered–then I’d say it’s time to roll up our sleeves and start acting like true conservatives again.

As Barry Goldwater put it in The Conscience of a Conservative:

The conscience of the Conservative is pricked by anyone who would debase the dignity of the individual human being. Today, therefore, he is at odds with dictators who rule by terror, and equally with those gentler collectivists who ask our permission to play God with the human race.

With this view of the nature of man, it is understandable that the conservative looks upon politics as the art of achieving the maximum amount of freedom for individuals that is consistent with the maintenance of social order… the Conservative’s first concern will always be: Are we maximizing freedom?

A few days ago, President Obama released a memo regarding the federal enforcement of marijuana laws. Eight states, such as California, have legalized medicinal marijuana (such as for its use in dealing with the symptoms of chemotherapy for cancer patients). Medicinal marijuana is given out at dispensaries, which are legal according to state law.

However, the federal government still outlaws marijuana through the Controlled Substances Act. Therefore, federal agents have the legal authority to pursue marijuana as a controlled substance. However, they also have the discretion of applying their limited resources towards better objectives, which is what this shift seems to be based on.

As a campaign promise, Obama said he would end federal raids on state-legal marijuana dispensaries. This is an example of Obama’s actions finally coming in line with his rhetoric. If nothing else, a baby step in the right direction is better than a big step backwards. We can also soon expect an end to the sentencing disparity between crack and cocaine penalties.

As an interesting note on the issue of states’ rights in the War on Drugs, the 2005 Supreme Court case Gonzalez v. Raich ruled that the federal government had the authority to regulate a person privately growing and consuming his own marijuana based on… wait for it… the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution! Clearly, private creation and consumption is basis for regulating trade between states.

Also to be noted that “liberal” justices Souter and Ginsberg ruled in favor of this ruling, and “arch-conservatives” Clarence Thomas and William Rehnquist dissented based on the obvious Constitutional meaning of the commerce clause.

Romney vs. Ron Paul on the issue of medicinal marijuana.

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