Political Quotes

“There have been quite a few good arguments made--excellent arguments--as to why this amendment should pass. Justice Louis Brandeis is one of my favorite Justices. He said the laboratories of democracy are the States. Indeed, 16 States, mostly through, if not entirely through, referenda determined that they wanted to try to find out whether medical marijuana laws worked. The Federal Government should not be infringing on what the States have determined and their citizens have determined in the most direct form of democracy that this Nation knows--State referenda. The Federal Government has been using its resources, which could be used in better ways, to police the jurisdictions that have voted it in. That's what this amendment does. It says there will not be any additional spending of Federal moneys to try to thwart the will of the people of the States on issues on which they have voted. This is the most basic democracy that we could be talking about. You talk about the Founding Fathers. This is the people who give us power. They have voted in their States to make it the law, and the Federal Government has taken its heavy hand and has tried to come in there--and has come in there--to prosecute individuals. It's for the States to prosecute those individuals if they want. As the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff) has pointed out, Federal priorities have to be made to meet the resources available.…”