Winger wedge: Medical Marijuana decision appalls "true" conservatives

[BurtWorm]

Like George Will, apparently, and this guy (It's worth wading through the typically constipated "magisterial" prose of this old-fashioned winger to hit the jackpot):

http://www.intheagora.com/archives/2005/06/the_distress_of.html

The Distress of a Conservative

Those interested in conservative thought, as opposed to reactionary slogans or right-wing interests, should read George Will editorial on the decision by the Supreme Court to affirm Congress's prerogative to overrule state laws on the production and use of medical marijuana.

It is not long in historical terms, but an eternity in American politics, since the fundamental text of the movement labeled "conservative" (but in its approach to existing institutions anything but) drew its strength from the image of one man standing up for the rights of his countrymen as individuals and not as social classes. The title "The Conscience of a Conservative," even more than the book itself, reflected that idea. A "nation," a state, or a class cannot have a conscience. That is an inalienable property of a human being. The belief in that property is especially strong among those human beings who believe that another property of homo sapiens is an eternal soul which will be judged and then saved or damned on its own merits.

The crisis of conscience that today afflicts thoughtful conservatives--those who are, or who are listened to by those who are, in power, and in power not just to affect the world but to improve it--is a spectacle that is yet hidden from the view of most Americans, especially those proclaiming their allegiance to the Democratic Party. Will's searching of the soul of a Supreme Court nominally dominated by adherents to conservative beliefs and their allies, a Court whose members were largely appointed by presidents who owed their positions to conservatives, finds that the jurists have strayed from the true faith. His examination of their actions and their words, and his prognostication of the effects both will have, amount to an understated jeremiad against the "conservative" establishment. His conclusion that the Court has confirmed, and thereby consolidated, the ability of Congress to disregard the doctrine that the federal government is in any respect bound by notions of limits and enumerated powers amounts to a conclusion as jarring as Luther's criticism of the Catholic Church....

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. Well, he could always nail his thesis to the door of the Capitol.

But he'd get arrested as a terrorist for attacking a government facility.