What's Past Is Prologue

Basically my feelings on marijuana legalization.

Slate essentially summarizes exactly why marijuana legislation goes nowhere in Washington, and why people like me are doubtful that it will ever go anywhere, and why I frequently call it a back burner issue.

1. The argument is centered around potheads.Be as much of a hippie as you want, but that will get you nowhere in politics. When you talk of legalizing marijuana, the first thing people think about is, as the article says, a “dreadlocked couch potato.” It might not be afairstereotype, but it’s what people think of first. No self-respecting politician will makestonershis or her key constituency, unless they never want to be taken seriously on any other issue ever again.
2. There’s no consensus on how to regulate it. Yeah, legalize weed; a lot of people support that idea (apparently a majority of Americans). Ask them if they want a marijuana dispensery on their street corner and suddenly they balk. It’s a bit of NIMBY — not in my backyard — and that derails a lot of potentially new policies. Wonder why Guantanamo Bay is still open? Nobody wanted to advocate bringing the terrorists into their district or state. They would lose the next election faster than you could say “waterboarding.” It’s the same with marijuana.
   
   Congressmen are people, too, and they are just as interested in keeping their jobs as you are with yours. We expect our elected representatives to be more than human, to be starry-eyed idealists who will make willing sacrifices on behalf of the nation. But there’s 535 of them (537 if you count the President and Vice-President), and some of them are going to be schmucks.
3. It’s senior citizens who vote the most.Go ahead, ask your grandma if she favors legalized weed. Most senior citizens are going to say no, and they’re the ones that vote. Are you going to rally your base to support the cause? Marijuana enthusiasts are less likely to vote than senior citizens, and senior citizens are not going to support that sort of thing.

Yes, this is a highly cynical approach I’m taking, but hey, I’m a guy who works in politics. The biggest failings of most people who crusade to change the system, to get better policies enacted, is they don’t know how it works. You want to know why the Civil Rights Act passed when it did? Because Lyndon Johnson was one of the most effective legislators in the history of the United States Senate, and as President he knewexactlywhat to do to get those bills passed.

You can’t change the game if you refuse to acknowledge the rules.