Marijuana Can Get You Elected
Bill Maher’s New Rules reverted to his preferred topic, marijuana. Before anyone goes off thinking that he is just being off the cuff, there is actually some deep insight in the presentation of his satire.
To begin with he shows Ted Cruz in his hunting gear. He contrasted it with John Kerry doing a similar stunt. When he says, “Only 6% of Americans now hunt and when civilized people like Mitt Romney and John Kerry pretended to, they made fools of themselves. I had the same reaction to John Kerry in this getup as I had to Ted Cruz And that reaction was, what a dick. Like many Americans this picture makes me less likely to vote for you and more likely to wish your hunting partner was Dick Chaney.”
The inference here is that these politicians continue to pander to a smaller base as they ignore the coming juggernaut of a base. They are behind the times. There are not moving in the direction the country is going. After-all, the thrill of hunting within an X-Box game is much more accessible, less trouble, cleaner, and safer. That is what millennials do.
What is interesting with Maher’s plea for the legalization of marijuana is how he makes it both a policy that could be adopted by Conservatives or Liberals. He says, “If Republicans want to pass the torch to the next generation, they need to pass the torch. You say you are for freedom and for getting the government off our backs, why not embrace pot? You could own greed and weed. Legalizing it speaks to all the most hallowed Conservative principles like individual rights, deregulation, and of course taking jobs away from Mexicans.” Now that was slick. He framed that in terms that define who they have become; greedy individualists with a touch of racist hate.
Now Maher threw a nugget for Liberals as well. He says, “Two thirds of Americans under thirty want it to be legal. These are the new voters. And by the time they are sixty five, they will expect weed to be covered by Medicare Part D.” I know, that was a Bush program. It was as Liberal as Obamacare (Heritage Foundation) is Conservative. We are talking about strange bed fellows.
Maher’s ending is sort of a notice. When he talks about millenials waiting for Democrats to ‘evolve’ into legalizing marijuana as the President evolved on the gay marriage issue, he was sending a message. Rand Paul has seen the light as many Democrats are evolving. That should be scary.
So what is next? Brother Bill Maher’s advice to Hillary Clinton is to get on board the train to legalize marijuana. Otherwise she will lose her base as she is outflanked by whoever adopts the position of legalizing marijuana.
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