Posted on 12/12/2012 7:35:21 AM PST by Kaslin
Last Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed for the first time to take on the issue of gay marriage. No matter how it rules in the two cases it will hear next spring, polling data suggest it is only a matter of time before legal recognition of same-sex unions is the norm throughout the country.
Something similar is happening with marijuana, which became legal in Washington last week and in Colorado on Monday. With both pot and gay marriage, familiarity is breeding tolerance.
The cases before the Supreme Court deal with popular reactions against gay marriage: the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a 1996 law that barred the federal government from recognizing state-licensed gay marriages, and Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot initiative that amended California's Constitution to eliminate same-sex couples' right to marry, which the California Supreme Court had recognized that year. But something interesting happened after those measures passed: Surveys now indicate that most Americans support gay marriage.
The turnaround was remarkably fast. A 1996 Gallup poll found that 27 percent of Americans thought same-sex marriages should be "recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages"; by last year, that number had nearly doubled. Recent surveys by ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN also put support for gay marriage above 50 percent.
Striking generational differences mean these numbers will continue to rise. In a CBS News poll last month, 72 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds supported gay marriage, compared to 53 percent of 30- to 44-year-olds, 44 percent of 45- to 64-year-olds and 33 percent of respondents who were 65 or older.
The consequences of these changing attitudes could be seen in last month's election results. For the first time ever, gay marriage was legalized by popular referendum -- not in one state, but in three: Maine, Maryland and Washington. Voters in a fourth state, Minnesota, rejected an initiative that would have amended the state constitution to prohibit gay marriage (which is already banned there by statute).
On the same day, voters in Colorado and Washington approved ballot measures aimed at legalizing the cultivation, possession and sale of marijuana for recreational use. The initiatives won by surprisingly healthy margins of about 10 points in both states, in contrast with a California legalization measure that lost by 7 points two years ago.
Nationwide support for marijuana legalization, like nationwide support for gay marriage, has increased dramatically, although not quite as swiftly, rising from 12 percent in a 1969 Gallup poll to a record 50 percent last year. While support for legalization dipped a bit during the anti-pot backlash of the Just Say No era, it began rising again in the 1990s. Public Policy Polling recently put it at 58 percent, the highest level ever recorded.
With pot as with gay marriage, there are clear age-related differences, reflecting different levels of experience with marijuana. In the CBS News survey, support for legalization was 54 percent among 18- to 29-year-olds, 53 percent among 30- to 44-year-olds, 46 percent among 45- to 64-year-olds and 30 percent among respondents of retirement age.
Just as an individual's attitude toward gay people depends to a large extent on how many he knows (or, more to the point, realizes he knows), his attitude toward pot smokers (in particular, his opinion about whether they should be treated like criminals) is apt to be influenced by his personal experience with them. Americans younger than 65, even if they have never smoked pot, probably know people who have, and that kind of firsthand knowledge provides an important reality check on the government's anti-pot propaganda.
Another clear pattern in both of these areas: Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to oppose legalizing gay marriage and marijuana. Yet Republicans are also more likely to oppose federal interference with state policy choices. In light of DOMA's disregard for state marriage laws and the Obama administration's threats to prevent Colorado and Washington from allowing marijuana sales, now is put-up-or-shut-up time for the GOP's avowed federalists.
I think the turn-arounds seem fast because to most Americans, these two issues aren’t that important.
It's prohibition is extremely expensive and empowers the drug cartels.
How soon will it be that cigars and cigarettes are banned from bars, restaurants, bowling alleys, the workplace, the dumpster outside the workplace, the home, the public sidewalks and the all-male public sauna, while marijuana smoking is openly promoted in the gay household living room and nursery and nursery school?
At the rate we're going, the only freedom we're going to have left is smoking weed.
For the time being, I'm just happy Warshington State and Colorado have legalized marijuana in hopes the potheads here in California will go there and destroy those states.
Maybe that'll give us a chance to turn things around here.
You just proved something about the libertarians, in California cigarettes are even banned outdoors at beaches and parks, and the libertarians haven't made a peep, yet they are rightly famous for constantly harping on pot.
When confronted, the liberaltarians will of course say that they are pro-cigarette, we assume, but why after 40 years of being identified with promoting ALL drugs, do they even have to be asked?
They have been uninterested in 30 years of a new and increasing banning of cigarettes, of the imposition of a NEW prohibition against tobacco, yet frantic and screaming on the importance of legalizing drugs.
It all makes sense now. Gay marriage & marijuana being legalized on the same day. Leviticus 20:13- "If a man lays with another man he should be stoned." We were just interpreting it wrong.
The SC will probably rule that the feds can define marriage for their purposes and the states can as well.
MJ the same.
Wait for it: soon, pedophiles will demand that their sick, aberrant behavior be codified as "the NORM," and then legalized.
Necrophiliacs after that.
Who are YOU (they'll say) to tell them what they can/can't do??
poison?
Ressults of dumbing down.Proof who is pResident.
has everyone noticed how all the MSM stories are directed at “inevitable”?
even glen beck surrendered to the hedonists.
Exactly. It’s one of the reasons I can never take libertarians seriously. Not a peep about cigarette bans, but loud obsessiveness over dope.
I call absolute BS on your argument. Libertarians are not silent on smoking bans. If you notice their connection to other drugs more, I don’t know. Maybe it’s that the drug debate is more noticeable. Maybe it’s confirmation bias. Maybe they actually do spend more time and money on pot, but that’s because prohibition is worse than restriction.
There’s also the fact that anti-prohibition has a longer pedigree. The libs’ antismoking crusade didn’t explode until relatively recently. Here in MN, ground zero of tobacco lawsuits, libertarians have been more consistent than any others on our side of the “public health” debate.
Did it ever occur to you that there are lots of people you've had conversations with that have smoked pot and you aren't aware of it?
Using illegal drugs to escape from reality is cowardice. Attempting to escape from reality also has another name.....insanity.
A male attempting to mate with another male’s anal canal is insane. A female trying to mate with another female with a rubber appliance is insane. It’s like having Aunt Rosie sitting at your dinner table trying to eat by sticking a turkey baster in her ear and telling you that’s just her lifestyle. It may be, but it’s also insane behavior.
RE: The damage that pot does to young brains...
I completely agree. Also never mentioned by the dopers is that it causes genetic defects. Marijuana is an EXTREMELY unforgiving drug, and making it more common is death for America.
LOL, you can praddle on, but you can’t change reality.
The anti-smoking crusade predates your birth, and by the 1970s smoking was being banned in stores and elevators in some places.
California went statewide in 1995, yet the liberaltarians have made barely a peep, and have no identification with tobbacco issues.
Drugs, porn, abortion, hookers, are what drives the libertarian crowd.
A new prohibition is being implemented in plain sight, in real time, today, and libertarians aren’t interested.
Using illegal drugs to escape from reality is cowardice. Attempting to escape from reality also has another name.....insanity.
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So remember kids, always use legal drugs to escape from reality, which indicates that you are brave and sane.
Do you have kids? If so how old are they?
Resisting the homosexual agenda is very important to me and FR. If you’re now going to start pushing that crap, you can post elsewhere.
conservatives are NOT federalists....
History is littered with cultures that self-destruct.
you do not know many, if any, libertarians do you??
However, you seem to have no problem trying to drive a wedge between conservatives and libertarians...
and you appear to do it often..
perhaps you are simply a republican party hack, who wants to keep the conservative / libertarian wing of the party in check???
I don't care who you are, that's just funny right there...
That’s what I thought, too. I actually did laugh out loud when I read it.
Gosh, you ignored the entire post.
I’m mostly reefering (couldn’t resist) to the increased numbers of kids that will now become pot smokers because to them and their parents, it will be seen as not too bad. And I’ll take any bet you want that I’ll be able to pick out the 12 year old who’s the pot smoker. And in many cases it becomes an ugly way of life. And my argument if we are talking about an adult is this. Imagine what their conversation (or accomplishments) would be like if they didn’t smoke pot? I’ve been there and done that, seen many sorry cases, so sorry but, this mind ain’t moving on pot. And it’s a far cry from alcohol. You can have a drink or two and still think rationally. Once you are stoned, even a little bit stoned, your mindset completely changes. And not for the better. It truly is insidious poison. Just one more sign of the world we’ve become. I would hope and pray that good parents stand up to the challenge for their children’s sake.
Thanks for the link. I’m happy for the little girl.
I did notice the docs used disabled HIV.
Enabled HIV, the kind passed by gays, is deadly. It disables their lives — even with new drug treatments — a couple or more decades early. And that’s just one pathogen spread by their unnatural behavior.
I have been a prosecutor/defense attorney/judge for almost 30 years now. I have come to the conclusion that the “war on drugs” as currently fought is a failure. It is the same failure that Prohibition was in the 1920’s. You cannot use the Courtroom to change people’s behaviors. It just doesn’t work.
As long as people want to smoke pot, they will smoke pot. The only way to have people stop smoking pot is a negative social stigma coupled with some internal sense of “wrongness” in the activity. Most people won’t have sex with dead animals in their front yards because the notion of doing so is repellent to them. That same sense of “wrongness” needs to apply to pot smoking.
Government should deal with the pot issue is the same as every other “bad” behavior, in my opinion. Stop subsidizing it. Stop supporting it. If someone wants to smoke pot, fine. If they can only keep a minimum wage job, let them lead a minimum wage life. No government handouts or support, no disability payments. Let people live with the consequences of their decisions, and if the consequences are bad, they can serve as an example to others.
I had the same initial reaction to Stuartcr’s post, but after reading it again, I think it was meant to expose the sad state of mind of many Americans, but certainly not those here on FR. I’m also guessing he hasn’t checked his replies to defend his point. Sorry to both of you if I’m wrong.
Colorado and Washington legalizing recreational use was about the only positive thing to take away from the 2012 elections, IMO.
...all-male public saunas, smoking pot in gay nursery schools??? Where do you live?
That said, I have no problem with companies who want to drug test to keep a drug free workplace.
And it will take care of itself.
Please show me in my statement, where you found that I was pushing anything? I was merely making a statement based on personal observation.
I absolutely agree with companies drug testing to keep a drug free workplace. Maybe better to call it a “drug free workforce.” It’s their work place, they can make whatever rules they want for their employees, and this is a rational rule.
Stoners don’t want to pee in the cup, they can go start their own business. Probably in hydroponics.
To hell with your personal observations. FR is the resistance!! If you do not wish to defend against the homosexual agenda (which is just another Marxist tool to destroy our liberty), please leave!!
You are correct. The only place I ever hear of talk about gay marriage and pot laws, is here. Granted I do not have a large social circle, but the people I know, just aren’t interested in these 2 issues. They will comment on it a little if someone brings it up, but I don’t believe it influences anyone’s vote. I am 62yo, work as a defense contractor and get random drug and polygraph tests.
Are you gay?
I read your entire post...
If you knew any libertarians, you would know it is us, not conservatives, that were on the front lines fighting this line of social engineering also..
so, like I said, you do not know any libertarians, do you?
I did not realise that defending against agendas was a FR requirement?
What kind of observations are there, if not personal? Why do you allow atheists and libertarians here then?
Not that I know of.
Encore.
If your personal observations include defending the homosexual agenda (or any other liberal/socialist/Marxist cause), then you may find your welcome here running out, just as many other atheists and liberaltarians have.
I HATE the homosexual agenda (which is just another Marxist tool to destroy our liberty) and all other agendas that I, as a freeper should defend against, and will fight them with my entire being until death.
‘I think the turn-arounds seem fast because to most Americans, these two issues aren’t that important.’
How does the above statement defend the homosexual agenda?
The WOD is fought incorrectly. You cannot fight a war on drugs where 90% of them are imported without closing the border. Period. When the suppliers start losing 7 out of 10 shipments or more instead of 2 out of 10 (and the number maybe lower) then you will see a change. No matter what Holder’s clan say they have no idea how much really comes over the border/ports/aircraft/seas.
I speak from sitting on the border and watching obvious runners come over and get caught taking the under-staffed LEOs off their post and over the next several hours you can see the increase in traffic until they figure the next shift comes on or the arresting officers are back out of the office.
It is the legal system that you and your associates have also implemented that requires insane documentation just to put an illegal Mexican drug runner caught with 200 pounds in jail. It took me 3-5 hours to clear paperwork and arraignments before I was back out. That your honor is BS. Please don’t lecture my on civil rights yada yada. It is a broken system all designed to ensure jobs in the legal community not protect rights of the accused.
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