Interesting that Jeb Bush came out against medical marijuana on the November ballot, at the front of a coalition of industry insiders (Florida Chamber of Commerce, Associated Industries, and the builders) that this blog calls "The Great Destroyers".
Jeb has been extraordinarily careful hiding his political hand in the bland cloak of accomplishment as the so-called education governor, whatever that means. In striking out against the popular medical marijuana initiative, Jeb is tracking his political future straight into the arterial vein that animated the GOP in the 1990's: the Culture Wars.
The Culture Wars in American politics advanced conservatives like Newt Gingrich, whose career rise roughly paralleled Bill Clinton's. In opposing the medical marijuana initiative -- compassionate? -- Jeb decided to go backwards to the strategy that established the careers and wealth of GOP operatives, from Main Street to K Street. Even if the radical right couldn't claim the White House, the playbook triggering the Culture Wars did very well with Congress and the states.
The GOP problem on the marijuana front is that the public has dramatically shifted over the past twenty years. Criminal prosecutions, incarceration penalties, and the costs on society for minor pot offenses disproportionately affect minorities who vote Democrat, but they also dramatically impact law enforcement that affects everyone.
Ordinary voters and taxpayers are fed up.
The medical marijuana initiative in November will provide Jeb a platform to exercise the singular character of his two terms as governor: a father-like voice of authority. "My way or the highway" is what really gave breath to the Jeb Bush version of compassionate conservatism.
Here is to hoping that Floridians understand the political right that Jeb represents is an artifact of the past. Let's hope that on the day after the November elections, the radical right wakes up like Rip Van Winkle, rubbing his eyes and wondering where time went while he was dreaming.
On marijuana, the Culture War ended a long, long time ago. The GOP apparently believes the embers still burn, and that is what they are counting to fan.
Jeb has been extraordinarily careful hiding his political hand in the bland cloak of accomplishment as the so-called education governor, whatever that means. In striking out against the popular medical marijuana initiative, Jeb is tracking his political future straight into the arterial vein that animated the GOP in the 1990's: the Culture Wars.
The Culture Wars in American politics advanced conservatives like Newt Gingrich, whose career rise roughly paralleled Bill Clinton's. In opposing the medical marijuana initiative -- compassionate? -- Jeb decided to go backwards to the strategy that established the careers and wealth of GOP operatives, from Main Street to K Street. Even if the radical right couldn't claim the White House, the playbook triggering the Culture Wars did very well with Congress and the states.
The GOP problem on the marijuana front is that the public has dramatically shifted over the past twenty years. Criminal prosecutions, incarceration penalties, and the costs on society for minor pot offenses disproportionately affect minorities who vote Democrat, but they also dramatically impact law enforcement that affects everyone.
Ordinary voters and taxpayers are fed up.
The medical marijuana initiative in November will provide Jeb a platform to exercise the singular character of his two terms as governor: a father-like voice of authority. "My way or the highway" is what really gave breath to the Jeb Bush version of compassionate conservatism.
Here is to hoping that Floridians understand the political right that Jeb represents is an artifact of the past. Let's hope that on the day after the November elections, the radical right wakes up like Rip Van Winkle, rubbing his eyes and wondering where time went while he was dreaming.
On marijuana, the Culture War ended a long, long time ago. The GOP apparently believes the embers still burn, and that is what they are counting to fan.
10 comments:
I wouldn't be too worried about Jeb, in terms of public policy, whatever the Bushes touch they destroy. Jeb crippled a whole generation of Floridians with high stakes testing and its awful consequences on the education of children all so he could make more off of them with his testing business.
The country has moved on in thinking about pot. The country is getting ready to release all these people in jail who are doing time for two pot cigarettes. Destroying lives unnecessarily, the cost for police, attorneys, the courts, housing, food, medical care, prison facilities, guards, administrators ---a multi-trillion dollar industry, is just too much. The cost/benefit is not there for society.
As we move in this direction, we must go with eyes wide open. We need to take a close look at the pioneering states, and put a whole infrastructure in place to facilitate the nation's transition.
Related but completely separate from this we need to develop a strategy for our youth. They need to get out of their parent's homes and begin their careers. Our resources need to be shifted to getting them started in their careers. Failure to do something dramatic for them, means we have no one to fuel this economy and that means we have no future.
Thank you JEB.
Double "Thank You Jeb!”
That is one of the things I love and admire about you. You have an unbelievably brilliant mind and you use it well. You are not one of the followers, you have always been a leader and you are not afraid to say what many think but don't have the guts to say.
Pot is bad for you and all the sciences point to that fact.
Unfortunately, our country has become trend-followers and latch on to any trend that comes along, just as does the writer of this post. "Everybody is for pot so people like you and I must be for it also." Individual thought has no place in this society. How sad!
I know it is hard for him to ever say anything good and/or positive about a Republican but the majority know that you are one of the brightest politicians around. And you have integrity.
That this writer does not agree with me is immaterial. I dismiss him by simply by considering the source.
Jeb and all his followers are headed to the dust bins of history. . .
I don't know how Republicans - and I am one - can continue to take these Martha's Vineyard positions and expect to be supported.
Isn't my party the one that wants less regulation, less taxation and more freedom? I'm tired of the moralizing and presumptuousness.
And don't give me any crap that the Democrats are any better. They want to regulate every aspect of my life, starting with the date I transition from embryo to human being.
Hey government! Before you saunter onto the lawn with all your new ideas on how to interfere with my pursuit of happiness, get your own house in order.
Start with your bizarre and incomprehensible tax code. Once you finish that project I can point to hundreds of other critical government functions, which only you can do, and which require your immediate attention.
-Grumpy
Apparently no one in the Bush family has any investments in marijuana production that would benefit from this legislation.
Blood Clot! That Mon Bush is crazy mon, but even crazier is the anon mon who said ganja is harmful, well what about alcohol and all those legal prescription drugs and their side effects.
Legalize it and don't criticize it....
That last post is bogus. Jamaicans don't use the word "mon." That is how the tourists pronounce it. The word we use is, "man," one syllable, not two syllables, not "me-an."
And the first two words are the lowest words ever used in that country. In fact they are downright filthy. It should not be used here
Plus, I know Peter Tosh and you are him.
Sorry! The last line in my last Anon should have read:
I know Peter Tosh and he is NOT you.
America leads the world in people in jail/prison per capita. Majority are in for petty drug offenses. Cost to taxpayers? $90,000 per year per prisoner? Approx? Is Jeb, or his family i.e. Carlyle, an investor in any of the private sector prison companies?
Post a Comment