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Ok… I’m done…
Posted by Duncan on June 11th, 2009
with the Republican Party…. I think they’ve done their best to make me vote Libertarian from now on…
Cigarette foes say the changes could cut into the 400,000 deaths every year caused by smoking and reduce the $100 billion in annual health care costs linked to tobacco.
The legislation, one of the most dramatic anti-smoking initiatives since the U.S. surgeon general’s warning 45 years ago that tobacco causes lung cancer, would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the content, marketing and advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Both of my Senators from Texas voted for this. No. I don’t smoke. Never even put a cigarette into my mouth. But this continuation of the nanny state and take over of another industry makes me ill. Only 17 nays according to Malkin’s roll call. Way too many Republicans voted for this. I’m done. Kaput. It is over. There will never be another vote for a Republican from this guy again.
June 11th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
I’ve been done with Kay and John for quite some time and I will NOT be voting for Kay when she runs for Gov of Texas either.
:Tex4life:
June 11th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
The only problem with you giving up on the Republicrats is that the Demicans get an effective net 2 vote gain.
More and more it’s looking like it’s time for the Good People to sacrifice our comfort and start running for public office.
Take me to your lizard.
June 12th, 2009 at 9:44 am
One does have to select between the lesser of two evils. Vote for David is right.. Republicans tend to be the successful ones in society and we need to be the ones to step up and start running and not leave government to ones that can’t figure out a balance sheet.
At least you don’t live in California. Arnold the RINO can’t figure out what he stands for and any idea he has gets shot down either by the legislature or by voters. Just like a bad B movie, they have an incredible mess out there. ( for a movie review of Arnold’s ‘California Screaming,’ you can look at; http://firstconservative.com/blog/political-humor/political-humor-california-screaming-the-movie )
June 12th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Duncan, I have to disagree with you, in part probably rather than completely, because there are really two issues entwined here rather than one.
1) The first is that logically speaking, there is no rational justification under current standards for the FDA not regulating nicotine as a drug, given the other agents that the FDA does regulate (including the active agent in pot). The failure to regulate is an historical anomaly because for a long time, Congress was dominated by Southern Democrats who were under the sway of the tobacco industry and who thus passed various laws exempting tobacco from regulation. So I don’t have a problem in rectifying this anomaly.
2) However, the second issues has to do with the larger issue of FDA regulator powers, and especially whether they have overreached their constitutional bounds. Broader challenges to FDA regulation with respect to constitutional and federalist grounds I am certainly sympathetic to, but I’m not going to grant privileged status to tobacco just because it’s had this status in the past – just as I don’t defer to stare decisis for judicial decisions (such as Roe vs. Wade) that are seriously flawed and/or sullied by political corruption.
Let me assure you that I haven’t just fallen off the turnip truck: I recognize that there is a political agenda for Congress’ action that extends beyond FDA regulation of nicotine.
However, Just as I reject the outcome-oriented jurisprudence that liberal judicial activists (predominantly) have utilized, similarly I have to shy away from engaging in a different kind of results-based reasoning that would lead to opposition to FDA regulation. of tobacco just because of other agendas.
In brief, I think the law itself rectifies an historical anomaly and now provides a more consistent treatment of tobacco as a drug in terms of exisiting law – but at the same time, I do believe that the FDA in its sphere of operations represents an overreach of federal power that needs to be reined in.
June 12th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
CT,
I don’t think we’re disagreeing here. I’m not so much angry at the FDA gaining control, regulatory, over the tobacco industry, though I am not sure why the FDA then couldn’t attack the alcohol industry in the same manner using that same logic of a intoxicating substance/chemical… (if they already have in some capacity, I am not sure). My biggest problem is the continuous overreaching of the federal government into areas that are not Constitutionally theirs to begin with, though they’ve taken that role due to the federal courts deciding that if the feds can play “Six Degrees of Separation from Interstate Commerce” then its cool. It was just little things before, but now we’re seeing the fruits of what was planted back in the progressive era of the early 20th century, with the federal government slowly morphing itself into a national government and the taking the states as mere provinces under its tutelage. And there’s the rub…
June 12th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Duncan, I think we are in basic agreement about our increasingly overbearing federal government. Actually, I consider Progressivism to be the 4th step in the breakdown of our founder’s vision of our nation. Progressivism is the one which created the imperial presidency, further opening the door to the New Deal and the current imperium.
However, in our current political system, the Republican Party really is the only opposition force in town. In more normal times, one might indulge in a 3rd party as a protest, but given the Democrats are in the process of carrying out a coup, we need to push the Republicans into effective opposition before we’re all hopelessly hamstrung – which means many of us finding a way into the Republican party structure at the local level to exert pressure at higher levels.
And in the larger picture, I don’t think this FDA bill really rates as THE litmus test: healthcare, energy (cap and trade), EFCA (critically important), properly questioning Sotomayer – these are the key priorities. (I may have missed some other key bills; with the legislative blitzkreig the Democrats are conducting, it’s hard to keep track of all the bombs raining down upon us.)