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So, I am a Republican, and overall, rather right of center in my beliefs, with a few exceptions.
However, I am also an advocate for weed being legal everywhere, and I smoke it myself, it's great for relieving stress and headaches.
So, is it unusual to be a 420 friendly Republican?
Smoking weed has nothing to do with issues like immigration and capitalism.
I'm a centrist who leans right on those things, but I think weed should be legalized.
Probably not too unusual, especially these days. and I am (closer to the) left and never smoked pot (not against it though). awesome!
Yeah I've always found it strange how certain issues that have nothing to do with each other became associated with the two major American parties. I'm all over the place and have to compromise values when voting.
I'm pro universal healthcare and education, pro gun rights, pro choice, pro free trade, pretty libertarian but not a fan of private prisons or military. I'm for legalized drugs, prostitution, and gambling. Anti income tax, pro sales tax and vice tax.
Considering the two parties encompass so many seperate issues, it's not strange at all to disagree with the party's platform on at least one issue.
The snarky response would be that it's not surprising at all, since everyone on the political right is a hypocrite.
The reality is that few supporters of any political party anywhere fully support every official party position. Political parties try to make the world binary, but that's not how it is and that's not how people work. Usually, we end up voting for the least-bad option rather than for a candidate or party we totally agree with.
I recently read "Everything Trump Touches Dies" by Rick Wilson. Wilson considers himself a Republican down to the bone and his life has been devoted to promoting the party and conservative values. I think the world Wilson aspires to create is very wrong in many ways, but one thing we share is his view of Trump: we both detest the narcissistic, stupid, nasty man-child, the incompetent and ignorant coterie surrounding him, his knuckle-dragging core supporters, and his cowardly enablers in congress. Wilson hates them because they're damaging his beloved Republic Party; I just think they're all despicable human beings. The book does an amusing, acerbic demolition job on all of them, but something Wilson mentions more than once is that he thinks the official Republican view on pot is illogical in constitutional terms, and bad in electoral terms.
Funny thing about that "hypocrite" remark, I can say exactly the same about people on the left. Often in my experiences, I find more left-wingers that act in a blatantly hypocritical manner, however, that is not to say the right is free of hypocritical bastards either.
I often find those closer to the extreme ends tend to act in that manner. I have run into many a Atheist "progressive" types who tend to act in a rather Condescending manner, and same for the Religious zealots of the very far right.
I find when I encounter either of those types, they both will preach about their beliefs, and act like you are beneath them for not agreeing 100% with what they preach, even if you are mostly in agreement.
They often tend to violate their own "rules" as well.
Indded, both sides are full of scumbags and hypocrites, even if people will often disagree on who qualifies.