Former president Donald Trump disappointed many pro-life voters when, on April 8, he posted a video to  Truth Social discussing his position on abortion. “My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint,” he said. “The states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both. And whatever they decide must be the law of the land — in this case, the law of the state.”

I don’t understand the disappointment, for three reasons.

The first reason is that he made a promise in 2016, then kept that promise. He promised to nominate Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade if he was elected. He was elected, he nominated those justices, and they overturned Roe.

That’s really a miracle in itself, if you think about it. While descending the escalator to announce his presidential campaign, he magically transformed himself from a life-long pro-choice “progressive Democrat” into a newly minted pro-life “conservative Republican” … and then, on that issue, actually acted like one and delivered the goods.  Mission accomplished.

The second reason is the result: Until Roe was overturned, pro-life activists had zero chance of getting their way via state legislatures. Now they do have that chance and in many cases have been able to make their dearest dreams come true on the issue of abortion.

What do you want, egg in your beer? He promised. He delivered. He owes you nothing.

And the third reason is one that’s been obvious for decades and goes back to the fable of the scorpion and the frog:

A scorpion asks a frog to transport him across a river. He promises the frog he won’t sting, as that would result in them both dying. But halfway across, he stings the frog. As they both drown, the frog asks the scorpion why. The answer: “It’s in my nature.”

In another version, a cobra bites the woman who rescued him from injury and nursed him back to health: “You knew I was a snake when you picked me up.”

In 2016, pro-life voters — including evangelical Christians — knew that Donald Trump was untrustworthy.

He couldn’t be trusted not to cheat on his wives.

He couldn’t be trusted not to screw over business partners who fell for and financed his scams.

He was — and remains — someone no sensible person would leave alone in a room with their wallet or teenage daughter.

Yet pro-life voters — including evangelical Christians — voted for him.

In large numbers.

Twice.

If you think he’s biting you by going “states’ rights” on the issue of abortion rather than supporting a federal ban, well … you knew he was a snake/scorpion when you chose him.

And you’ll probably do it again anyway.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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Legalizing the cultivation, possession, and sale of marijuana seems like buying a goose that lays golden eggs — just pass the law, sit back, and enjoy increased tax revenues and reduced law enforcement costs. Easy peasy, right?

Unfortunately, politicians never do something the easy way when they can instead turn the whole process into an expensive regulatory maze that rewards well-connected lobbyists and campaign contributors while denying the public maximum benefit.

The latest case in point is New York, where governor Kathy Hochul whines that legalization is a “disaster” because New Yorkers decline to navigate that regulatory maze and are instead just growing, selling, buying, and consuming cannabis without her permission.

“It’s not every street corner,” she complained to the Buffalo News. “It is every other storefront. It’s insane.”

Would she consider it “insane” if “every other storefront” sold milk, or bottled water, or trail mix? I kind of doubt it, but given her obvious predilection toward controlling literally everything, it wouldn’t surprise me either.

New York’s “legalization” law didn’t legalize growing your own cannabis. It didn’t allow existing “medical marijuana” dispensaries to sell to regular customers. And so far, the state has only licensed about 50 stores to sell the stuff — in a state with a population of 20 million people.

Here’s a quick primer on how to successfully legalize marijuana:

Step One: Repeal all laws pertaining to  the cultivation, possession, sale, or purchase of marijuana.

Step Two: Enjoy the increased sales tax revenues and reduced law enforcement costs.

Step Three: There is no step three. You’re done.

Trying to impose burdensome “licensing” schemes and taxes (or, at least, taxes above the usual sales tax rate on everything else) creates a “worst of both worlds” scenario.

When it’s hard to buy — and still illegal to grow — the newly “legal” substance,  and when the “legal” version is heavily taxed, people will still want the stuff as much or more than they did when it was “illegal.”

People who want to grow their own already WERE growing their own and will continue to do so. People who prefer to purchase it will purchase it, and they won’t care whether their dealer, or their nearest convenience store, has a Very Special, Important, and Expensive Permission slip hanging on the wall.

If Hochul is serious about solving the “problems” of marijuana legalization, she’ll stop trying to enforce the state’s idiotic licensing schemes and tell the legislature to ACTUALLY legalize the stuff already.

The marijuana genie was never really in the bottle — in the war on marijuana, marijuana was always the winner — and now it’s coming fully out and granting people their consumption wishes.

The politicians can get out of the way, or they can get run over.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

PUBLICATION/CITATION HISTORY

“I know the Legislature is doing a bill to try to protect our meat,” Florida governor Ron DeSantis recently told a college campus audience . “You need meat, OK? And we’re going to have meat in Florida. Like, we’re not going to have fake meat. Like, that doesn’t work.”

Florida’s legislature is one of several considering bans on the sale of “cultured” or “lab-grown” meat. State legislator Danny Alvarez (R), the bill’s sponsor, pretends that it’s about food safety: “As of today, the unknowns are so great …. There are no long-term studies.”

That’s at least more coherent than DeSantis’s weird “protecting meat” language, but it’s still incorrect. There is one conclusive long-term study. It’s called “the history of humankind.”

For as long as there have been humans, humans have eaten meat.

And for as long as humans have eaten meat, humans have tried to improve the quality of that meat and get more efficient at producing it. Domestication of animals instead of just eating wild game. Cross-breeding to produce animals that give us more, or better, meat. Different methods of feeding and fattening. Use of antibiotics.

Cultured meat is the next step in that long chain of “improvements.” It produces meat with less need for large herds, big feed lots and pastures, vast quantities of grass and grain, costly transportation of large animals from farm to slaughterhouse to market, etc.

The jury is still out on whether cultured meat will prove commercially viable, becoming  available at attractive prices and in attractive forms. But whether it does or not, it’s meat. Not “fake” meat. Meat.

For the most part, politicians advocating for a ban are honest about their motives, if you listen closely.

It’s not about “protecting meat,” whatever that’s even supposed to mean.

It’s also not about “protecting consumers” from … well, something. Consumers who like meat can only benefit from more choices that, if things work out, will be cheaper both at point of sale and in terms of economic impact (for example, a bunch of land becoming available for uses other than grazing would likely mean lower housing prices).

It’s about protecting one of the most politically powerful and heavily subsidized (but I repeat myself) American industries.

That industry loves to be called “farming,” but the better name for it these days is “Big Agriculture.”

At one time, most Americans worked in farming. These days, about one in one hundred do. Today’s “farms” are highly concentrated factories operated by wealthy multinational corporations, not by stoic peasants in overalls, holding pitchforks or driving tractors, like my grandfather before me and me in my childhood.

Multinational corporations and powerful lobbies don’t use politicians to protect consumers. They use politicians to protect themselves from competition at the EXPENSE of consumers.

So now you know who Ron DeSantis and Danny Alvarez really work for, and that it’s not you.

The “solution” to the “problem” of cultured meat is to buy it if you want it and not buy it if you don’t want it.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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