December 23, 2010 8:18AM # Are Republicans to the Right of Pat Robertson? By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) --- SHARE On his “700 Club” program this week, Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson [endorsed the decriminalization of marijuana](http://www.mediaite.com/tv/pat-robertson-criminalizing-marijuana-is-ruining-young-people/). He says, “We’ve got to take a look at what we’re considering crimes. I’m not exactly for the use of drugs, don’t get me wrong, but I just believe that criminalizing marijuana, criminalizing the possession of a few ounces of pot, that kinda thing it’s just, it’s costing us a fortune and it’s ruining young people. Young people go into prisons, they go in as youths and come out as hardened criminals. That’s not a good thing.” Check out the video: Robertson’s comments come a few days after other conservatives, including Ed Meese and Gov. Rick Perry, [have joined](http://reason.com/archives/2010/12/20/beyond-bars) to encourage new conservative thinking about who should go to jail. Now [far be it from me](http://books.google.com/books?id=oWriT6k6WUsC&pg=PR8&dq=pat+robertson's+crackpopulism&hl=en&ei=31YTTb6MBMqs8Abhp_XWDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=pat%20robertson's%20crackpopulism&f=false) to recommend any policy on the grounds that it’s endorsed by Pat Robertson. But I do have this question for Republican members of Congress: Do you really want to be *to the right of Pat Robertson* on the issue of marijuana prohibition? Related: For an interesting look at how socially and economically conservative different Republican presidential candidates are, check out [this graphic](http://www.newsweek.com/2010/12/20/let-s-make-a-match.html) by Ben Adler at *Newsweek*. There’s actually some surprising consistency. Mike Huckabee is the least libertarian candidate on economic issues, and exceeded only by Rick Santorum in his un-libertarianism on social issues. Gary Johnson and Ron Paul are most libertarian on both economic and social issues. ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Regulation](https://www.cato.org/regulatory-studies), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).