Palin Shows That Perhaps Hope for Liberty Not Dead Yet in GOP
by Josh Guckert
In an interview on Thursday with conservative Hugh Hewitt, 2008 Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin was
asked about marijuana policy in her home state of Alaska. Hewitt asked
about the successful marijuana initiative that passed last year, asking
in a brazen tone, “What happened in Alaska? What are you people thinking
there?”
In a pleasant surprise, Palin refused to
take the bait and did not indulge the prohibitionist fear-mongering
employed by Hewitt. Palin instead said “We’ve got that libertarian
streak in us, and I grew up in Alaska when pot was legal anyway. It was
absolutely no big deal.” While she went on to explain that families and
communities helped to avoid drug usage, she suggested that there are
much more important issues for governments to worry about.
As Palin stated, beginning around the late
1970s, possession of small amounts of marijuana was decriminalized and
eventually fully legalized. It was not until 1990 that Alaska voted
again to criminalize possession. As Jacob Sullum for Reason
points out, the 2014 referendum went even further than what had been
the law prior to 1990, as it also legalized “home cultivation along
with commercial production and sales.”
Despite her disappearance from electoral
politics since the 2008 election, Palin does still remain a significant
figure in the Tea Party and grassroots conservative movements. The fact
that she would be willing to stand up against the alarmism of the
big-government drug war forces that have had a home in the party for
over thirty years shows that perhaps the debate is shifting within the
GOP.
The most interesting detail about her
statement, however, is that she doesn’t explicitly endorse the concepts
of legalization or decriminalization. On its face, this may seem like a
loss for the libertarian side in the debate.
However, what Palin is
instead targeting is the ridiculously apocalyptic rhetoric that has
engulfed the Republican Party. While there is no good reason to be in
favor of prohibition, the arguments that have emerged seem to get simply
sillier. Though many now (rightfully) view public service announcements
like “Reefer Madness” as if they were parodies, some on the authoritarian right seem to employ the same tactics.
This all occurs as the national dialogue on
marijuana has drastically changed over the last few years. While those
in favor of draconian drug policies once experienced much success at the
ballot boxes, support has now shifted in favor of marijuana legalization.
It points toward the fact that not only
must the Republican Party alter its viewpoint in order to remain
consistent with liberty, it also must do so to survive as an equal
competitor with the Democratic Party. Not many issues like these present
themselves, but marijuana is a potential game-changer. As the GOP has
constantly attempted to re-brad itself since its devastating loss in
2012, there is perhaps nothing else that could change voter dynamics as
much as siding in favor of personal liberty.
While Democrats have long talked a good
game on minimizing the War of Drugs and its negative effects, their
track record is far less savory. For example, the Obama administration
was known to severely crack down on states with legal marijuana during the President’s first term.
Sarah Palin’s softened language on
marijuana marks the shift that is occurring throughout the country and
the Republican Party, and more inside the GOP would be wise to
capitalize. While there are a vocal few who have yet to realize the
folly of the War on Drugs, the principles of small government and
individual liberty cannot be sustained in a nation where individuals are
not free to choose to engage in activities which do not harm anyone but
themselves.
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