March 29, 2007
Bob Barr to Get Baked With D.C. Residents
Well, not really. But the former Republican congressman from Georgia has joined the Marijuana Policy Project as a lobbyist, reversing a long career as an anti-drug warrior, according to an article published today in The Politico. Among his top priorities? To lobby for the right of states to set their own policies regarding medical marijuana.
This is significant because it was Barr himself who in 1998 pushed through an amendment that forbade the District from implementing a medical marijuana initiative that had been endorsed by 69 percent of District voters in a citywide referendum. Since then, it seems that Barr has had something of an ideological transformation, leaving behind his Republican ways and aligning with a number of libertarian groups and causes.
Guns and marijuana, but no voting rights. Well, two out of three isn't bad. At least we could theoretically have a chance at another way to dull the pain of 200 years of disenfranchisment, if Barr's group gets its way.
|
This makes an unusal amount of sense. A group traditionally identified as a liberal cause signing up an arch conservative as a lobbyist. That money's going to buy MPP access to Senators and Reps who wouldn't think twice about talking about the chronic over Doritos and sangria. Now, if only the NRA could sign up Bill Clinton and DC Statehood Green party sign up G.H.W. Bush as lobbyists for their respective causes, we could all celebrate DC getting voting representation by firing our guns in the air and doing massive bong hits.
Could eating cheese made from Borat's wife's milk have changed his mind? I say yes.
I saw Bob Barr at an event (AmSpec) eating cheese. It took a lot of effort not to say something about titcheese to him.
The idea that legalization of drugs is somehow a "liberal" idea flies in the face of logic, philosophy and measurable political capital. This has always been a libertarian idea, and the libs tend to have more friends on the right than the left. In fact, about a decade ago, William F. Buckley staged one of his debates on the topic, debates that used to be so prevalent on PBS but sadly no longer are. Arguing for the legalization of a number of drugs (including cocaine and marijuana) was Buckley himself, and he was doing so alongside representatives from NORML and other drug decriminalization organizations. Arguing against? Rep. Charlie Rangel, one of the most notorious liberals in congress.
This has always been a libertarian idea, and the libs tend to have more friends on the right than the left.
But that's really more their choice than any natural fit. Libertarians, collectively speaking (hee!), have decided that they can throw their committment to social liberties overboard in exchange for tax cuts. In doing so, they've turned "libertarian" into a code-word for "a conservative who thinks he's cool."
Like being associated with Bob Barr is going to do much good for either DC or marijuana.