The Man Who Should Be President

It’s not at all fair to call Gary Johnson the pot-candidate but that’s how the former governor of New Mexico is going to be known, to the extent he is known at all, in this depressing, currently-witless, Republican primary. From a personal point of view I give not even half a hoot about marijuana or other currently-prohibited drugs. I don’t favour ’em. But so what? The Drug War must end sometime and sooner seems a better notion than later.

If President Johnson were to end the Drug War* and that were his sole achievement in office he’d have done more good than any President in 40 years. Not since Milton Friedman helped end the draft has there been a better cause. That alone demands one welcome Johnson’s decision, announced at some point today, to enter the race for the Republican party’s 2012 presidential nomination.