Choice is a strange master. At the Utah Legislature, it has led the push to incrementally legalize marijuana. This push does not come from Utah’s progressive left, but from its progressive right affiliated with the state Republican Party. Only in Utah will you find teetotalling Republicans who would, if they could, turn water into wine as a constitutional right.
Utah’s progressive right does not understand freedom, if smoking marijuana for the sake of choice is viewed as freedom. True freedom is a moral ecology — a delicate balance of human autonomy, a strong private culture of virtue and laws that reflect that culture. Utah’s progressive right has an incomplete understanding of this moral ecology.
Case in point, related to the legalization of marijuana: Human action is comprised of both transitive and intransitive impacts. If I hit you in the face, clearly there is a transitive result — you feel the pain of me hitting you in the face. There also is an intransitive aspect to that action — my choice to hit you in the face leaves a mark on me, on my character.
People oblivious to this reality blather on about individual rights, personal privacy and, my favorite chestnut, “victimless crimes.” But the intransitive aspect of human action is precisely why any of us question the personal choices and character of any elected official or person in a position of trust. It’s no small irony that few, if any, of the folks pushing for legalization at the Utah Legislature would ever actually vote for anyone who admitted publicly that they currently smoke marijuana. Why? If you accept the idea of an intransitive aspect of human action, personal choices can become everyone’s business in short course.
Another irony for the progressive right’s support of marijuana legalization is that the “victimless crime” mentality breeds a culture of anarchy, not freedom. When I say, “I’d never use marijuana because I know it is unhealthy and it leaves me subject to less than my better self, but I don’t care if you choose to use it,” I’m actually seeing you as less than me. I’m really saying, “I don’t care about your health and I don’t care if you are your worse self.” I’ve just objectified you. I’ve just made a choice (conscious or not) to not see you as an equal human being to me. And when I’ve done that, freedom is diminished.
Human autonomy is a powerful and important component of human freedom. But the whole idea of a “victimless crime” begs the question: Is a human free, in her ability to make reasonable choices, if she’s a “pot head” or addicted to heroin or alcohol or any other external substance? And if not free, why are we so self-righteous about protecting her autonomy? Better yet, what’s to protect?
Proponents of legalizing marijuana will remind us that they’re not talking about heroin or alcohol or sex addictions. They’re talking about marijuana. They also will remind us that the legislation before us this session is limited to medicinal use.
True medical necessities are arguments far from smoking marijuana in principle. Few people oppose the controlled use of just about any substance intended to relieve physical suffering. No doubt public policy will evolve with medical and scientific progress in these areas. If an isolated chemical component of cannabis has medicinal value, there is no need to legalize marijuana generally — the medical profession and the marketplace will extract what is isolated to the benefit of mankind.
In truth, Utah’s progressive right abhors the common good. As it relates to this issue, they can’t see beyond the end of their selfish political interests. Gov. Gary Herbert was right when he called this movement “a sham.” It is also intellectually immature, morally indefensible and bad for freedom in Utah.
Paul Mero lives in Sandy and can be reached at paulmero@msn.com.