The other right

Last week, I received a letter from Milton Friedman. Not a personal letter, unfortunately -- no "Brian, How's it hanging? Best, Milty" -- just a mass mailing. Still, I was pretty jazzed. \nAnd what did Milton Friedman -- father of monetarism, founder (after Hayek) of neo-liberal economics, Nobel Prize winner, adviser to Nixon and Reagan, shaper of the economic policy that brought America out of stagflation and into the 21st century with the world's third-highest per capita income (after Luxembourg), one of the lowest unemployment levels of all industrialized countries and an inflation rate of just 1.6 percent in 2002 ("CIA World Factbook") -- what did THAT Milton Friedman want of me?\nHe wanted me to help legalize pot.\nWell, not precisely. The message asked its recipients to sign an open letter supporting a study by Boston University Professor Jeffrey Miron titled "The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition in the United States" which, to quote, "finds that replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation would save the United States $7.7 billion per year and might generate as much as $6.2 billion annually in tax revenue." The effort is being coordinated by a group called the Marijuana Policy Project, which is seeking to gather up a host of economists -- and, apparently, at least one half-whacked political scientist -- to start an "open and honest debate about this issue." Milton's its celebrity spokesperson.\nYou might be saying, "I thought he was a conservative!" But the association of Milton Friedman with marijuana legalization is nothing new -- he has supported a variety of libertarian causes. However, it does say something about the political right in terms of its perception and its future.\nMilton is not alone on the right, supporting socially liberal policies. William F. Buckley, too, has advocated marijuana legalization (National Review, June 29, 2004). Michele Zipp, Playgirl editor-in-chief, came out of the closet as a Republican in March -- and claims to have been fired for it two weeks later (Drudge Report, March 21). And Arthur Finkelstein, veteran Republican campaign adviser, married his male partner in a civil ceremony three weeks ago (New York Times, April 9). These are hardly model examples of conservative orthodoxy.\nThe Republican Party is going to have to take this into account.\nAt the moment, with the presidency and two congressional majorities, the GOP is riding high (no pun intended -- OK, a little pun), but its 2004 victories were the result of a vigorous effort at alliance-building. In the Republican Convention, moderates John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Arnold Schwarzenegger were marshaled to deliver a very clear message: Republicans -- libertarians, moderates, conservatives, religious right -- may disagree on many things, but they must unite to support the government's campaign against terrorism and its state sponsors. \nDemocrats faced the same challenge in aligning their factions behind Kerry, and they had, perhaps, an easier message to sell ("He's not Bush"). But Kerry failed to capitalize on it and tried to pitch to both liberals and moderates simultaneously, often contradicting himself. Meanwhile Bush used the GOP's common cause successfully to ensure moderate support while offering goodies to the religious right. \nThis worked through Super Tuesday, but now that they are in power, many of the GOP's representatives seem to forget they're heading a coalition -- not a homogeneously conservative party -- and from Schiavo to censorship, they are spending moderates' goodwill faster than virtual poker chips. Someone should warn them they'll need nonconservatives again in 2006, not to mention 2008.\nBut, as for me, I have to go. \nMilton called. He needs a ride to Taco Bell.