Pat Robertson thinks the war on marijuana is bad for family values. I have been saying that for decades. I have been posting this link often: Demographics. It runs down what mass incarceration does to family values.
BTW Pat says he is “not exactly for the use of drugs”. I’d love to find what exactly he is for.
I also wonder what his real motivation is. Why now? Why not 5 years ago? Maybe he is a secret user of med pot. Or he has some one close to him who uses med pot. Or perhaps news of things like The Mutiny In Montana have filtered in to him. Or maybe it really is what he claims – his prison ministry opened his eyes.
Well any way Pat. Welcome aboard. I hope you bring a few of your friends with you.
I think I’m detecting the beginnings of a tectonic shift in attitudes towards the War On Marijuana. A long time friend (in Internet Years) who is deeply religious threw in the towel on pot prohibition about 6 months ago in a private communication to me. I wonder if Pat’s “coming out” will embolden my friend to go public? In any case the last major pocket of resistance to the end of Cannabis Prohibition (those who favor prohibition on religious grounds) is beginning to crumble. The end is nigh.
H/T Instapundit
Cross Posted at Power and Control
Comments
8 responses to “The Times They Are A Changin’”
Seeing how bad prison really is and talking to prisoners will reshape your outlook on our penal system. Prison is brutal. Some brutal people belong there. A great many of the people we put there do not — but they do by the time they get out.
If Pat says it’s because of his prison ministry, I believe him.
One other possibility not mentioned: some people can be self-critical (in the good sense) and will modify their views as they learn more.
I’ll admit to being uncertain in the matter as a whole. Although a classical liberal as well as a religious conservative, I’m not persuaded by the morality argument as such.
I have heard people make a rational “public good” article against marihuana legalization (although most would also admit that current punishment is often way too harsh). It is a strong enough argument that I can’t just dismiss it, but not strong enough to definitely outway other arguments.
BTW, I appreciate the arguments made on this list, which have been some of the better on the pro-legalization side. Thanks for your blogging. Have a great Christmas!
Texting Lucifer to see if Hades has frozen over. Good on you, Pat.
About 15 years ago, a minimum security prison was built in the district where my oldest sister taught school. Once opened, this brought a number convicts’ families to the general area to be near their loved ones imprisoned there. A great many settled in her school district.
As a teacher, she was exposed to these people via their school-aged children and hearing their stories helped change her mind on the WOD. While I’d certainly planted a few seeds in her mind against the WOD prior to this, it was seeing the destruction of these folks lives that finally pushed her to opposing the WOD.
So, like Phelps above, I tend to believe Pat as well, as I’ve seen the “exposed to prison” phenomenon first hand.
Good for him. I never thought I’d hear myself say that about him, but when someone gets something right, they deserve credit for it.
Oh goody, let’s all join hands and sing Kumbaya.
Even the soconnest of the socons are beginning to acknowledge reality. Society has not collapsed in California under quasi-legalization.
Robertson deserves praise.
Dave is right. Why would society collapse?
I have never met anyone who decided to either smoke or not smoke pot on the basis of whether it was illegal.
Of course, if there are people out there who would suddenly decide to start using simply because pot became legal, I would suggest they are so feeble-minded as to be beyond help anyway.
I changed my mind when pot turned untrendy in the 1980s. When the Wrong Side stopped saying it must be legalized, I figured it was safe to be pro-legalization.