I am reminded of a story, possibly apocryphal,  from the Constitutional Convention.  One of our Founders proposed an element to the Constitution that would prevent the young republic from ever having a standing army larger than 5,000 men. This suggestion has to be understood within the context of the recent past where American colonists believed that British Redcoats were used to enforce the laws and restrict liberties.  Nonetheless, the merits of the recommendation are obviously lacking.  I can see in my mind’s eye, however, a few of our Founders nodding their heads approvingly and slapping this Founder on the back for his suggestion.  Because the leader of the Continental Army was present in the assembly, indeed serving as the convention’s president, all of the representatives looked to Gen. George Washington for his thoughts on this proposal.  Ever the statesmen, Washington paused for a moment as if in thought, and then said he was fine with the proposal as long as they added another one that prohibited any potential enemy from every attacking the United States with an army larger than 3,000 men. The proposal was quietly abandoned.

Sometimes common sense leaves even the most learned and thoughtful among us.  I fully understand that and don’t pretend that I always operate on it.  But I am beginning to see a pattern in this land that is disturbing.  I remember my grandfather lamenting President Nixon’s decision to take our currency system off the gold standard.  As he is enjoying the beginning of his eternity in heaven, I would not want to bring him back to this earth anyway, but I can just imagine his response to quantitative easing in this day and age were he to return.  My grandfather was not educated past the eighth grade, but he was one of the wisest men that I have known and he emphasized the importance of common sense.  Indeed, it incensed him when people failed to demonstrate it, especially in the areas of governance and politics.  I think I inherited my angst on this issue from him.

We have seen the demise of common sense often in recent years.  I have written about it before on these pages.  A number of actions from our current president’s administration come to mind:  the Solara debacle, the Affordable Care Act, the lack of security in Benghazi, the closing of Anwar, and obstructing the Keystone Pipeline.  The current election cycle has brought many other examples such as personal email servers and the Donald.  I guess I should not be surprised.  Minnesota elected Jesse Ventura as their governor not that long ago and they currently have Al Franken as their senator.  Who can explain these things?  I should not throw stones, however, as my state considered Jerry Springer at one point for the Senate, and is currently debating what is arguably the biggest no brainer in recent history—the legalization of marijuana.

I am dumbfounded by the support that this proposal has gained.  I could discuss at length the problem that Ohio has with its system for amending the state constitution.  Clearly it is too easy and in recent years, we have too many attempts to circumvent established legislative process through constitutional amendment. Fortunately, it appears some have finally gotten wise to this problem and Issue 2 is designed to tighten the process.  That is good.  The constitution is designed to be the governing document.  The law code is quite different and can be changed easily.  If the constitution can be easily changed, then you have no foundation for the governing system.   But I won’t go any further on this issue.

The common sense issue de jure is whether or not to legalize marijuana.  The snarky side of me responds to this idiocy like this:  Yes, let’s legalize marijuana since we have the drunk driving problem under control…or the underage drinking problem under control.  I wonder where the anti-smoking crowd is on this issue.  I have long been mildly irritated by the societal acceptance of the anti-smoking campaign. Why is it okay to demonize smoking and not alcohol?  I have never understood that.  No one goes out and kills someone with their car, sexually assaults a young coed, or physically abuses their kids after smoking a cigarette.  How often do we hear of these crimes occurring involving alcohol?  Nonetheless, our fine culture has decided that you should not have the right to smoke.  Full disclosure, I hate smoking and don’t want it around me.  As a Christian, I oppose the use of tobacco because Scripture teaches that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and as good stewards we ought to treat them well. I don’t condemn those who smoke however, and in this great land, if someone wants to smoke, that is up to them.  Why do we demonize smoking, however, which does little more than threaten the health of the smoker, and give alcohol a free pass?   One in three people will be involved in some type of alcohol-related crash in their lives.   Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in this country and a third of them are alcohol related.  Almost half of all tenth graders drink alcohol even though it is illegal for them to do so.  Forty percent of all crimes committed in this country involve alcohol.  Alcohol is legal in this country and restricted by law, but it is clearly the cause of many problems.  I don’t think anyone, using common sense, would suggest that those crimes are less significant than those caused by cigarette smoking.  So, where is the movement to deal with this problem?  I am not forgetting about Mothers Against Drunk Driving and other fine organizations, but I am confused that we don’t have a concerted effort in this society to deal with this obvious source of many different problems.

Enter stage left, the legalization of marijuana.  If we can’t control the resulting problems from alcohol use, why would we want to add yet another substance to the list of legal items that will only add negative ramifications?  If it is legalized, we will see the expansion of the problems that drugs already cause.  In 2012, 10.2 million people reported driving under the influence of illicit drugs.  How much will that statistic rise with the legalization of marijuana?  What problems currently associated with drug use in this country will be solved from legalizing one of them other than to reduce some law enforcement costs?  I would be willing to predict that the costs associated with the unintended consequences from this legalization will be much higher than any cost savings that are incurred.  The anti-smoking crowd should be up in arms about this proposal as well since most of the marijuana sold will be smoked.  Adults can’t keep alcohol away from their kids, how well will they do with legal marijuana?  The list of common sense objections goes on and on.

I have to admit, that there are so many problems with this proposal that irritate me beyond the common sense problems.  Early on in the campaign, I saw a heart-wrenching ad about a family that moved out of Ohio to a state where they could obtain medical marijuana for their daughter who suffered from seizures.  I don’t know about the medical aspects of what this child suffered from or if there were alternatives to the cannabis oil that gave her relief.  Assuming this is the only substance that can help her, fine, legalize medical marijuana!  Making the substance legal recreationally is absurd.  This is the biggest red herring in the entire campaign and is simply disingenuous.   I saw an ad recently involving Nick Lachey, who though born in Kentucky, somehow calls Ohio home for him.  He supports legalizing marijuana here.  Great!  That changes everything for me. Sorry, I did mention something about this issue bringing out the snarky in me.  Anyway, his argument is that it will produce jobs.  The casino syndicate said the same in their bid for legalization in Ohio not too many years ago.  They promised 17,000 jobs and have produced less than 5,000.  In addition, the state spends almost $ 4 M on gambling addictions.  The numbers of problem gamblers are as high as 14.9% of the population or 1.7 M people.  Upwards of 24% of those problem gamblers use marijuana and the financial ramifications of problem gambling are devastating both personally and in terms of costs to society.  The point is, the panacea that these bad choices are supposed to provide are nothing but smoke and mirrors.  The job promise is a joke in light of the negative ramifications.  If legalizing heroine would create jobs, would we do it?  Some argue that the problem of marijuana is so great and occupies so much time for law enforcement officers that they cannot deal with more important crimes.  Okay, if so, then decriminalize it.  That is far different than legalizing it and resolves the problem.  Frankly, I don’t buy the law enforcement angle, not only because Ohio’s chief law enforcement executive, Attorney General Mike DeWine, opposes the idea, but because we know going into this that the legal use of marijuana will result in so many additional types of crimes including driving under the influence and drug-induced crimes.  Finally, and yet another common sense-defying aspect of this proposal, is the question related to how it is being crafted.  The amendment allows for only ten growing sites that are controlled by a small group of investors.  They suggest on their commercials that this is not a monopoly.  If this isn’t, then the word has no meaning.  Clearly it is, and one wonders how it makes sense to give this bonanza to a small group of investors when the chief arguments leveled are job creation and medical marijuana.  Such a system will limit the number of jobs created, squash the free enterprise system, and jack up the price of the infinitesimally small portion of the marijuana market that is actually for medical use.

For those of us who claim the name of Christ, the use of marijuana clearly stands in contradiction to the notion of being led by the Holy Spirit.  Losing control of our bodies due to the use of any substance simply puts us in a situation where that is not possible.  In addition, we are to find our peace and solace in our Savior, not in a drug-induced malaise.  We also seek to live in a society where human beings can flourish and the standard of living allows people to live well and freely express their faith.  Anything that can get in the way of individuals taking responsibility for themselves and their families and that can bring harm to the greater society ought to be resisted.  I pray for the people of Ohio in this coming election that they will use good old fashioned common sense and vote against Issue 3.  It would make my grandfather smile.