Regular readers of my columns (and I want to thank both of you) may recall my previous ruminations on representation as well as on hypocrisy. On representation I mulled over whether an elected senator or congressperson should vote in accordance with the will of the people (the “delegate model” of doing things) or should vote for what he or she feels is in the long term best interest of the citizens, even if it is not the current majority view of the folks back home (the “regent model”). Regarding hypocrisy, well, I really, really dislike it.

Which is why, dear readers, I find myself both amused and a wee bit puzzled by the Gazette’s recent article on Colorado U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn’s status as the only member of the Colorado delegation, both House and Senate, to side with U.S. Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions’s (hey, if my GOP friends can keep repeating Obama’s middle name, well…) recent rescinding of Obama-era rules on marijuana use in states that have legalized recreational use. Or put another way: Hi there Colorado!

The voters of our lovely state, way back in 2012, voted 55 percent to 45 percent to legalize such use. Full disclosure: I voted against it, and have never tried it.

Apparently lots of other folks out here felt that if people wanted to smoke pot, who is the state government to tell them no? And I’ll say this also: as a former military cop I dealt with both drunken people and high people. I’ll take a dozen high people every time. The drunken ones often want to fight, while the folks on pot want to eat Doritos and listen to Queen.

To be fair, AG Sessions has not exactly declared war on the will of Colorado voters (yet), but he did remove the roadblock that prevented other federal prosecutors from going after folks in the “legal” marijuana trade here. Marijuana is still illegal federally.

Which now, finally, brings us to both the will of the people and hypocrisy (See? I get there eventually). Republicans claim to be the party of small government, and to be the champions of states’ rights. Yet we see the GOP’s actual view of both ideas on display when talking about pot. General Sessions appears to think it’s just fine for the government to be big enough to reach into your home to check for pot, while also conveniently ignoring the existing state government. The scary specter of black-suited federal cops busting down doors is found in many GOP world views, with states as the bulwark against such invasions. But on pot? States’ rights? Sure, but maybe not so much.

During my own run for the U.S. Congress in 2008, Congressman Lamborn agreed to a single debate, and during that remarkable evening, he talked a good game about states’ rights: the too-big federal government, and much of the usual GOP line. Don’t get me wrong – I think he really believes that stuff. But what I remember very clearly is one of my own responses to his “small government” lines. I replied that I believe the GOP believes in a small government, but it must remain just big enough to be able to peek into every citizen’s bedroom to make sure they are not sleeping with the “wrong” person.  Now, I would add to that reply, “or smoking the wrong type of plant.”

I don’t question Congressman Lamborn’s deeply held believes (which I think are nearly all wrong, but that’s not the point) but I do note that when the choice came down to fighting for what most people would call a states’ rights issue, and an issue on the reach of the federal government, Mr. Lamborn chose to support the feds and expanded federal power over the rights of the people of Colorado to enjoy the fruits (smokes?) of their own political will, as expressed in approving Amendment 64 by a wide margin. Governor Hickenlooper, originally opposed to the Amendment, signed it into law, as he believed in the right of the people of Colorado to make that decision.

So is Congressman Lamborn to be applauded for being a good regent, and doing what he thinks best for the people in the long term? Or is he to be scolded for the hypocrisy of yelling “states’ rights'” while supporting broad federal powers to undo the will of the voters of Colorado? You get to decide, this November. I wonder if there’ll be Doritos.