Vivek Ramaswamy called out the current laws on marijuana as “a farce” and later wondered “Does that make me a progressive; a conservative?”

“I don’t know what those labels are, but I’m pro-progress.”

The businessman turned presidential hopeful sat down with comedian Bill Maher for a lengthy, and at times fiery, discussion on his campaign and issues of the day. After gifting the vegetarian a zucchini described with a graphic comparison to a pachyderm’s anatomy, the conversation quickly turned to the “Club Random” host’s pot-smoking pastime.

“See, this is what is great, this is what’s so advantageous about running for president when you’re 38, because I remember 38 and I still run around the country, but I couldn’t do it like that now,” Maher suggested before adding, “…you can just run your body ragged 24/7. Especially, I’m sure you don’t drink…”

“No, I try to not have too many vices,” the GOP candidate expressed as the comedian held prepared to light up and asked of marijuana, “But do you think it should be legal nationally?”

“I think we should align the federal law with the state law. I think it undermines the rule of law that we have,” argued Ramaswamy. “It’s a joke, it’s a farce.”

Voicing his agreement, Maher said, “It’s a joke that I have to look up when I’m going to a state, and by the way, I don’t even do it anymore because I figure if they’re going to get me in Oklahoma for having this with me, they’ll be the ones who are embarrassed, not me.”

“Well, also, here’s the thing though,” added the businessman, “is when you have different standards of law, like when you have that ‘look the other way and sweep it under the rug,’ that’s when you actually get an unfair state that can target people for saying the wrong thing, thinking the wrong thing. ‘I don’t like what you did here. I got to throw the statute book at you and then we’re gonna do something where we otherwise don’t charge you with.’ That’s what they do.”

It was at that point that the matter of states’ rights was presented as an avenue for legalized racism and while Maher decried the left’s routine harping on the wrongs of history, the matter of progress had Ramaswamy volunteering his belief that our nation has a hypocritical history.

“In some ways I am pro-progress…Does that make me a progressive — a conservative — I don’t know what those labels are, but I’m pro-progress,” said the candidate. “What I tell some people often — you know friends of the left is ‘Have we been hypocritical for most of our national history? Yes we have.”

We are a nation of men, not of Gods. No one ever calls China or Iran “hypocritical.” Our worst hypocrisies are still our best evidence that we have ideals at all: to be a hypocrite, we had to have ideals in the first place. We will continue to be imperfect because we are human,… pic.twitter.com/dFseyoUePn

— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) August 21, 2023

He did note in his assessment that “Those hypocrisies are our best evidence we have ideals at all.”

As for the initial discussion on marijuana, Mediaite reported that an off-camera exchange had Maher asking, “You don’t smoke dope, pot?…No? You don’t mind if I do, do you?”

“I don’t mind. Yes, your house, your place,” the candidate was said to have replied prompting the host, “Okay, and it’s legal…We’re not even doing anything wrong.”

“Yes. I think the federal government, there’s a whole, separate but basically, it’s legal from the state perspective, so go for it,” said Ramaswamy.

The entire interview can be viewed below via the “Club Random Podcast” channel on YouTube:

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Kevin Haggerty

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Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.

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