Choice is a strange master. At the Utah Legislature, it has led the push to incrementally legalize marijuana. This push does not come from Utah’s progressive left, but from its progressive right affiliated with the state Republican Party. Only in Utah will you find teetotalling Republicans who would, if they could, turn water into wine as a constitutional right.
Utah’s progressive right does not understand freedom, if smoking marijuana for the sake of choice is viewed as freedom. True freedom is a moral ecology — a delicate balance of human autonomy, a strong private culture of virtue and laws that reflect that culture. Utah’s progressive right has an incomplete understanding of this moral ecology.
