Souder: Advocate for Big Government

I’m from outside his region, so I don’t know a great deal about him. But, from a recent entry at Indiana Parley and a related press release from the Drug Policy Alliance, I gather that he is not a small government conservative.

Souder was apparently incensed that representatives of the Marijuana Policy Project were involved in a discussion on drug policy at a Conservative Political Action Committee conference. I don’t know what the best policy is, but small government conservatives should at least acknowledge that the War on (Some) Drugs is imperfect — in part because it requires a lot of government money (taxes), a large government bureaucracy, and significant government infringements on our civil liberties– and that, among America’s list of problems, marijuana use is way at the bottom. On top of that, it’s not entirely clear that the War on (Some) Drugs is particularly effective for all its expense and infringement on our liberties.

But, Mr. Souder is apparently not willing to entertain discussion of a smaller government solution to the problem, such as it is or a reordering of our priorities to use tax dollars where they can do more good. 

Students of the Drug War might recall that Mr. Souder is the author of a provision that prohibits individuals with a prior conviction of smoking marijuana from receiving financial aid for college.  Under Mr. Souder’s law, Governor Daniels wouldn’t have been eligible for financial aid after his marijuana bust, and former Gov. Kernan wouldn’t have been eligible had he been caught when he was smoking marijuana. Small government conservatives should at least consider the possibility that, if government resources have to be used, it might make more sense to spend more money educating our population, even if they have a marijuana-related conviction, and less money messing with some of the less harmful drugs.