A WHOLE LOT OF NONSENSE GOING ON

The third week in July, Republican Gov. Rick Perry said that the U.S.
Constitution - whose 10th Amendment limits federal power - gives
states the right to decide on such matters as abortion and gay
marriage. The fourth week in July, the Texan recanted. He now supports
a federal ban on abortion and gay marriage. Social conservatives told
him they didn't cotton to giving states the right to defy their views
on things they care about.

Perhaps it's time for progressives to pick up the freedom banner that
was so quickly dropped in the mud of Republican primary politics. Here
are examples of intrusive state and federal government, ripped from
the headlines:

- - "Gun Query Off Limits for Doctors in Florida." Florida recently
passed a law forbidding doctors to ask patients whether they keep a
gun unless the physicians find the matter "relevant." (Your guess of
what "relevant" means is as good as mine.)

Questions such as "Do you wear seatbelts?" and "Is rat poison within
your toddler's reach?" are still permitted in the semi-free state of
Florida. But an inquiry as to whether Junior has easy access to guns -
the source of thousands of children's deaths a year - is forbidden.

Some gun nuts apparently see stomping on the First Amendment right to
free speech as necessary to protect their Second Amendment right to
bear arms. The logical problem here is that a doctor's words can't
take anyone's guns away.

As a practical matter, sensitive gun owners could find a doctor who
doesn't care whether their 13-year-old can get his hands on Dad's
loaded assault rifle. They can also ignore the doctor's advice.

This weird legislation stems from a complaint by a central Florida
woman that her doctor refused to see her again after she wouldn't
answer the gun question. Well, doctors also have the right to turn
away uncooperative patients, don't they? The law was signed by
Republican Gov. Rick Scott - he who goes on about not letting
government get between you and your doctor.

- - "Authorities Seize $800 Million Worth of Pot in California." Last
month, federal agents said they had uprooted $632,000 worth of
marijuana plants in Mendocino National Forest. The raid also picked up
38 guns, 20 vehicles, trash, chemicals and 40 miles of irrigation
lines in what's supposed to be a repository of nature in Northern
California. The growers are said to be Mexican-based drug traffickers
who threatened hikers.

So much wrong with this picture. If marijuana were legal, there would
be no associated garbage in our national forests. It would grow freely
on American farms. Thousands of drug traffickers would be put out of
business, and the taxpayers would save the billions they spend on
eradicating a natural plant.

Law enforcement officials have a habit of overstating the size of
their drug seizures, but suppose the pot pulled up in the Mendocino
National Forest raid were sold legally and taxed? Harvard's Jeffrey
Miron, who specializes in drug war economics, told me that the state
and federal government could have "plausibly" collected $250 million
to $300 million on this haul "if regular taxes were collected at all
stages of production, transportation, etc." That number might be
large, he added. Some economic activity in growing pot, such as
fertilizer, is already taxed. "But still, some non-trivial fraction
would be collected in taxes."

And Rick Perry? Ten months ago, he said that medical marijuana was OK
for California but not for Texas. But he said the same thing about New
York state and gay marriage, before the social conservatives revised
him.

What did Thomas Paine say about "summer soldiers and sunshine
patriots" abandoning principle for political expediency? Rick Perry
couldn't hold firm for one lousy month.