I am not a fan of federal government mandates. However, the Constitution does mandate the federal government promote the general welfare. Tobacco has been grandfathered in as far as its legality; had it been innovated in the last fifty years, it would have been outlawed. Alcohol can certainly be dangerous if abused, but no one will ever again call for its prohibition, and probably shouldn’t. But however you slice it, mood altering drugs are inherently dangerous, and quickly so. We all know what heroin does on the streets; weed is just slower. You would not want your daughter dating a pothead. There is a reason for that. I’ve had some friends who smoked weed. I thought some of them were nice people. They told me they were addicted to it - had to have it. What happened in Colorado presages the further breakdown of society.
Please, please, please, leave the Republican party and go register as a Democrat, because that is where YOUR mindset belongs. You are as much an advocate of government tyranny as any Democrat.
Which rationale is how all these destructive, tyrannical environmental regulations get into place -- they are "promoting the general welfare" and those who deny "climate change" are working to harm the general welfare. Right????
Please, please please stop confusing "welfare" and "morality."
Having a consistent measuring system, a consistent monetary system, road and rail systems, etc., is "promoting the general welfare."
Outlawing tobacco promotes the self-aggrandizement of control freaks who think it's their job to save people not as smart as themselves from what they think are risky behaviors, from learning from their mistakes and growing from them, and instead using government to threaten them with punishment if they are so stupid as to indulge in a weakness or a sin -- saving them from the consequences, you see.
If you are registered as a Republican, you should re-register as a Democrat -- Democrats have zero respect for the rights of individuals to learn and grow from their own mistakes, and in the process set examples for others to follow to avoid making the same mistakes. YOU presume to use government to bypass that process altogether, and THAT is the WRONG job for government. THE FOUNDERS KNEW IT. So does Ted Cruz.
If you will simply take the time to read Article I, line by line, and consider what you are reading. None of the Constitutional functions granted to Congress go to what Constitutional authorities refer to as the "Police Powers," those functions that go specifically to protecting the health, safety & morals of a community. Those powers were kept by the States, when they created the Federal Government, and the "whys" & "hows" of same should be obvious. There is no way that the Virginia & Carolina gentry or their counterparts in the New England mercantile classes, would have ever been likely to agree to having their morals defined by their new compatriots in the Federal experiment.
Cruz understands the division of function. He is to be commended for such, even as others disqualify themselves by ignoring the very basic principles involved.
The point will illustrate why some of us could never have supported Rick Santorum, had he obtained the nomination in 2012. We were not being punitive.