The John Stossel show recently aired an episode dedicated to 2012 third party presidential candidates spotlighting Socialist candidate Stewart Alexander, Libertarian candidate and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson and Constitution Party candidate and former Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode.
Goode's segment made for some particularly interesting and entertaining television. The supposedly constituionally-minded Virgil Goode called for a moritorium on immigration and does not support drug legalization.
That is correct: the candidate that wants us all to believe that he stands for a strict interpretation of the Constitution supports, among other things, drug prohibition! Responding to Goode's pro-Drug War position, Libertarian Gary Johnson refered to Thomas Jefferson supposedly "smoking hemp on the veranda." Goode's answer to Johnson is priceless: "you're not going to find in here (the Constitution) dealing with marijuana or any other types of drugs because the Fouding Fathers probably... didn't know about it."
The Constitution indeed does not address the use of drugs. Therefore, the Federal Government is not given any powers over drugs
and cannot wage their drug war with any constitutional conscience. The US Constitution grants powers to the Federal Government; anything that is not expressly delegated to the Federal Government is relegated to the States. Goode trumps his own pro-Drug War stance with his final comment.
Goode is also completely wrong that the Founding Fathers "didn't know about" the drugs that are illegal today. Thomas Jefferson and George Washington both grew hemp. In all fairness, Johnson is not quite correct either. Although Jefferson did grow hemp, the quote that Johnson refers to ("some of my finest hours have been on my back veranda, smoking hemp...") appears to be false. Jefferson may very well have been a huge pothead - but the exact quote in question does not exist in any of Jefferson's writings.
One has to admire the glorious irony of an unconstituional position from a Constitution Party candidate.
No comments:
Post a Comment