Green the Vote, the activist group that has been out in force the past few months gathering signatures for State Question 797, which would legalize recreational marijuana in the state, didn’t reach anywhere close to the number required to put the question on the November ballot, despite claiming it reached that number in late July. The story here.
So Green the Vote’s president Isaac Caviness made an executive decision to make the false claim to the media that they had surpassed 120,000 signatures, despite only gathering around 32,000. His rationale was strategic: if Oklahomans perceived momentum or popularity in the recreational marijuana movement, it would energize them to get involved too. But if he wanted to get more signatures, why not say they were 5,000 short, or 10,000? If everyone thought that they’d surpassed the required number, wouldn’t that make prospective signature-givers stay home instead? The strategy wasn’t only short-sighted, it just didn’t make any sense.
Caviness also sacrificed the credibility of recreational marijuana supporters by making them appear dishonest to the rest of the state. The only contact many Oklahomans may have with the recreational movement may be in the form of the many articles written about Caviness’s deception. So his strategy not only failed in the short run, it just made future recreational activism that much more difficult.
Caviness did mean well: he had only the welfare of the movement in mind, but strategies like this cannot be viewed as a viable option.
The only effective strategy for libertarians in this state is honesty and hard work. Deception, dirty deals, compromise will poison this movement, and render it utterly ineffective.
I will say, however, that the 797 petitioners are some of the most hard-working, dedicated volunteer activists I’ve ever witnessed. If Oklahomans ever get a taste of a more free, more peaceful society, it will be due to the work of these anonymous volunteers working behind the scenes.
