I’m glad this guy lost his primary: “Reyes made an issue out of O’Rourke’s support for marijuana legalization, which the congressman opposes. In one Reyes ad, a group of children say ‘no’ to drugs while ‘Beto O’Rourke wants to legalize drugs’ flashed across the screen.”

Let’s put aside how hackneyed, “Say no to drugs!” is, as well as the fact that supporting the legalization of one drug by definition doesn’t equate with legalizing drugs, plural. I support marijuana legalization full stop, but my preferred strategy would be to start with that and see how it goes before moving onto other drugs. But the line that all we need is more enforcement is simply nuts. If you’re an incumbent and this is what you’re reduced to, you might as well just hang it up already. Especially when you consider that, according to this poll, 57% of Democrats favor legalization, including nearly 70% of liberals, which matters since such voters tend to vote more often in primaries. Talk about out of touch, Reyes seemed not to know where his party or his base were. Considering the only thing I knew about the guy was that he didn’t know the difference between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, it doesn’t speak well of his preparation for the job is all I’m saying.

I swear I don’t understand the attitudes of Democratic politicians on the drug issue. At the beginning, Obama looked good on the issue before transforming into one of the worst drug warriors in recent memory. Why? A majority of the population supports legalization now, skewed heavily in the Democrats’ column. It’s definitely less partisan than support for marriage equality, and with support from a few senior Democrats that number could really shoot up–there’s way more room to grow. The drug war hits minority communities hard, so making an issue of legalization would be of enormous help to the people these guys supposedly represent. Adopting a legalization stance would put Dems on the cutting edge of an issue that plays well with younger voters, solidifying that bond. Plus, it’s a basic question of individual liberty and the right thing to do, and almost all the arguments against it have been debunked or are caveated all the way to hell. After a certain point, the question is less why don’t they support this, as much as it is why in the living hell didn’t they unanimously back it years ago? The best I can figure is that Democrats are either afraid of the issue, don’t care about the issue, feel silly supporting the issue, or are genuinely on the other side along with the drug warriors, the cops and all the rest. God help them if they actually think they can still score any points by being all “law and order” about it, as Reyes did. Because change is coming. Democrats are led mainly by older white men who are out of step with what their base wants–there’s a latency period of about 5-6 years until the base’s sentiments filter up–but let’s hope this story turns some heads. The fact that a high-ranking, long-serving congressperson lost in this way is a first scalp, a sign of things to come. My guess is that, by 2016, the pro-legalization position will be the default position among Democratic presidential candidates, either at the outset or after some halfway intelligent Senator figures out that this support is something that exists, goes for it, and brings the rest of the field along out of fear of losing. My guess it’s going to be quite the vote-getting issue indeed.

I was trying to find the best song about drugs ever written, “Brutal” by the Mekons. Unfortunately, the internet failed me and I couldn’t find it. So here’s another song on the topic, featuring the same hook as all of Huey’s other songs: