MB: Systemic radicals. Would you be talking about groups like the Democratic Underground movement of the sixties?
DC: I'd be talking about the Democratic Underground, I'd be talking about the Progressive Democrats of America, I'd be talking about the Green Party and I'd be talking about organizations like The Alliance for Democracy and the Program on Corporations Law and Democracy and The Liberty Tree.
There are so many examples of constellations of groups that are kind of forming and coming together.
The problem is the Democratic Party leadership has sold out these people just as surely as the Republican Party leadership has sold out people. And that's a problem.
MB: Have you heard anything from the Students for a Democratic Society?
DC: Yes, we're engaged and involved with them.
MB: So, this is not like legislative laws that are passed like local marijuana laws or medical marijuana laws which can be transcended by federal laws, if the feds want to go in and do it, although it seems like they don't want to do it anymore.
DC: Actually medical marijuana is a perfect example. I would say that medical marijuana is indicating a crisis of jurisdiction. Who has the authority to make decisions when it comes to safety, health and welfare? Local communities, state government or the feds?
I, personally, don't smoke marijuana. I am a supporter of the use of medical marijuana.
I absolutely believe that the federal government does not have the authority to attempt to overturn a state initiative process when the people of California have made a decision in relation to the safety, health and welfare of its citizens.
You know, Michael, in a democracy, we the people are supposed to be the government. Democracy, broken down, demos kratia. Demos-the people. Kratia-rules. We the people rule. We are the government.
So, when the federal infrastructure tries to impose its will on state governments, that is always suspicious. The only time it would be appropriate is if there was a legitimate argument that people's constitutional rights were being violated by the legislative process. This is not the case in medical marijuana.
Frankly, if one state wants to make marijuana completely legal, that's their right to do. If another state decides, through the political process, that they're going to criminalize marijuana, that's the people's right to do.
MB: There's an adage that says that The Supreme Court isn't final because it's infallible. It's infallible because it's final. Could you speak to that adage?
DC: The Supreme Court has been profoundly wrong on many occasions. The Supreme Court upheld slavery. The Supreme Court upheld laws that forbid women to vote. The Supreme Court upheld laws that criminalized trade unions as a criminal conspiracy. The Supreme Court upheld laws of JimCrowe segregation. The Supreme Court has been wrong and profoundly wrong throughout history.
The Supreme Court is profoundly wrong about granting corporations constitutional rights. When they are wrong, it is up to we the people to organize, to change the culture and to ultimately change the constitutional framework in order to demonstrate that's how wrong they are. The Supreme Court is not the final say. We the people are the final say.
