Case Study of Modern Politicians: (or the new definition of a Leader)

What follows is not specific to nor uniquely characteristic of Gov. Christie, it appears to be generally applicable to our politician (national and state, democratic or republican, incumbents or aspiring hopefuls).


Politicians are charged with creating the policies and the laws that are necessary to, required by and central to the execution of governing. To fuffil that role it is essential that politicians be able to formulate, explain and lead the public toward a social implementation that delivers on the principles and values of the society that the nation is founded upon delivering. In this regard, leaders are required to lead; a simple but perhaps forgotten concept. The Founding Fathers were leaders. They had positions that they would present, discuss and debate; and they acted upon those positions. Sometimes those positions were accepted as fundamental principles, sometimes they were compromised on with others' views and became the policies that would become part of the societal agreement, and sometimes they were rejected because the particular idea(s) were not in sufficient common agreement that they did in fact represent the leading views of the collective wisdom. In the end, they lead; they put their views and positions before their peers and the public, defended them, and have created for posterity the nation that we have today in our free, democratic and law-based system of government (federal, state, and local).


Would a leader of the Founding Fathers' caliber sit back and wait to see if they were going to run for office before they would speak out on what the nation, the state or they themselves should be doing with respect to an issue of national significance? If you don't have an answer to present, or you don't have sufficient comprehension of the issue or factors that need to be considered, or you don't believe that the issue is important enough to be of concern to a political leader then is it in the nature of a leader to say: "I will have a position if I choose to run." Do leaders have to be running to participate in the political debate and political decision process on an issue?

The question that the public should be asking any politician is: "As a leader do you have anything of import, substance or value to provide to the public, to the political process or to our society that would be important and useful in setting an American understanding of the issue, a value-based perspective that would provide direction to others, or an illustration of how American principles are reflected in what should be done?"

Legal Weed: It’s Not What You Want, It’s What You Get

As the legalization of marijuana issue works its way forward though the various states and the federal arenas we will all have the opportunity to see the political processes proceed and with it the quality and level of judgment and understanding at which national and state leaders are capable of operating. In other words we are about to witness the incompetency and perhaps in some cases the influence of non-public interests in the legislation and execution of marijuana use in the public sphere.

Now don’t assume I am for or against the legalization, to be perfectly honest I am generally indifferent to that decision because no matter which way it goes the same consequential political and public aspects that will plague the nation for years to come will occur. It is the ‘laws of physics’ about marijuana in society that are the real issue and that is something that is beyond the comprehension of politicians. Politicians think, I use the term loosely, that they can create a legal policy that will resolve the issue by defining the manner of use that will be permitted. Note: the current criminal status of marijuana use that has existed for the last several decades was the best attempt that politicians were capable of and we can all see the excellent and wonderful success and benefits that have occurred because of those efforts.

The issues of use are not primarily whether it is considered legal or illegal that issue is just the one that people get their ethical self wrapped around based on how they see the use as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. But ask what the cause and effect dimensions of legal or not legal are, and do those consequences ethically justify the ‘rightness’ or ‘wrongness’ position being made and promised by the politicians?

As the public sentiment grows for legalization and the politicians see funding’s beck and call the crime will ebb and the weed will flow. But the laws of physics will proceed unrelenting without regard for opinion, desire, dictate or hope of those who judged imperfectly what they failed to comprehend. These effects will come from how the use of marijuana will intrude on other areas of life and society. Just like trying to criminalize it produced a black-market for weed, criminal elements who capitalized on it, costs for law enforcement and punishment, granting use a “rebellious” character, and changing the lives and prospects of numerous citizens; the legalization of marijuana will extend into areas that are beyond just the question of is it legal or not. With legal use are we less impacted by how marijuana effects things like driving behavior and skills, healthcare costs,  cost of insurance, non-adult access to use, use at work or in the military, …

When others use weed does it affect the responsibility that they have with respect to impacts on you?

This is where the politicians fail to lead. In defining the legality how well thought out are these areas in terms of what happens next? Presumably, the justification for criminalization was that bad things resulted from use. The fact the worse things happened from just deciding to criminalize use doesn’t eliminate the fact that there are consequences of use and there are risks to others from legal use.

So what’s needed is that we need a comprehensive marijuana use policy that addresses not just its legality but all the other dimensions in our lives that use will affect. This is not something that gets done once and done. Marijuana policy will need to be studied and monitored so that our society can adapt and respond to the deficiencies in the legislation and what was understood and hoped for by the politicians that think they can will the world to work the way they intended it to.