"Conservatives pride themselves on resisting change, which is as it should be. But intelligent deference to tradition and stability can evolve into intellectual sloth and moral fanaticism, as when conservatives simply decline to look up from dogma because the effort to raise their heads and reconsider is too great. The laws concerning marijuana aren't exactly indefensible, because practically nothing is, and the thunderers who tell us to stay the course can always find one man or woman who, having taken marijuana, moved on to severe mental disorder. But that argument, to quote myself, is on the order of saying that every rapist began by masturbating. General rules based on individual victims are unwise. And although there is a perfectly respectable case against using marijuana, the penalties imposed on those who reject that case, or who give way to weakness of resolution, are very difficult to defend."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Novelists from the United StatesColumnists from the United StatesTravel writersPolitical commentators from the United StatesJournalists from New York City
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
"Free Weeds" National Review (June 29, 2004).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_F._Buckley_Jr.
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
William F. Buckley Jr.
(November 24 1925 - February 27 2008) was an American author, conservative journalist, who founded the conservative political magazine ' in 1955 and hosted the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999.
53 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by William F. Buckley Jr. →
Related Quotes
"The best defense against usurpatory government is an assertive citizenry."
"[National Review] stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much p…"
"The largest cultural menace in America is the conformity of the intellectual cliques which, in education as well as t…"
"One must recently have lived on or close to a college campus to have a vivid intimation of what has happened. It is t…"
"Radical conservatives in this country have an interesting time of it, for when they are not being suppressed or mutil…"
"I am, I fully grant, a phenomenon, but not because of any speed in composition. I asked myself the other day, "Who el…"
"The central question that emerges—and it is not a parliamentary question or a question that is answered by merely con…"
"I will not cede more power to the state. I will not willingly cede more power to anyone, not to the state, not to Gen…"
"Though liberals do a great deal of talking about hearing other points of view, it sometimes shocks them to learn that…"
"Demand a recount."