Conservatism, by the true definition of the philosophy, is a wonderful and necessary guiding principle for government. Frequent, fast or even radical change, which is a hallmark of liberalism, is destructive when left unchecked by the forces of conservatism. As we have argued in the past, conservatism and liberalism are two sides of the same coin, both necessary for good government.

The Daily is often maligned as a liberal institution, but the truth is, we love conservatism and conservatives for the aforementioned reasons. The problem today is conservatism has been hijacked by radicals, who have wrapped a bunch of what are actually liberal principles up into a proverbial ball and labeled it “conservatism.”

We can call a cat a dog, but that epistemology doesn’t make it so; at some point we have to be smart enough to know better and call a cat a cat and ostracize those who still insist it’s a dog.

It is this problem the American Republic faces today with pseudo-conservatives and, combined with our love of conservatism, brings us to this week’s series of editorials on the subject, and the underlying point behind all of them: The GOP must root out these radicals and return to genuine conservatism, lest the Republic suffer and the Republican Party pass into American history as a footnote in the progress of liberalism.

With this in mind, it’s time for conservatives to be genuinely conservative about drug laws.

Joining 24 other states who have legalized marijuana for one reason or another, or have at least minimized the penalties for possession, the recent election saw Colorado and Washington following the trend. Highlighting the prevalent misunderstanding with liberalism and conservatism, such moves are typically considered “liberal.” However, the legalization of marijuana, or eliminating penalties for having it, is rather conservative.

Positive pragmatism is a trademark of a real conservative. With every year that passes, Americans are more and more in favor of legalization. Further, the position that marijuana is a Schedule I Drug — meaning pot is as addictive and dangerous as heroin — is no longer tenable today, given the medical science on the matter and, of course, the experience of millions of citizens over the years.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics’ last report on the issue in 2004, 12.7 percent of state prison inmates and 12.4 percent of Federal prison inmates are serving time for marijuana-related offenses. That’s one in eight prisoners, costing the taxpayer over $1 billion annually — and none of that considers the expense of corrections manpower and related costs needed to house these prisoners.

These statistics also do not include inmates in local jails, where inmates typically stay for sentences under 365 days — the sort of sentence most typical for marijuana-related offenses. And further, the Bureau of Justice Statistics claims that 67.5 percent of convicted felons return to prison within three years of their initial arrest, and a recent Pew Center study says that number is 43.3 percent. Regardless of the exact percentage, a significant number of felonies are committed by convicted felons. Clearly, if we want crime to go down, keeping felons in prison would be a good way to do it.

A typical pragmatic conservative would look at these numbers, consider the overcrowding and excessive numbers and expense of inmates in the big house for pot, in addition to the science and popular opinion, consider that smoking pot is a victimless crime and come to the conclusion it’s high time we got the bong-hitters out of prison and keep the murderers and rapists in.

In the meantime, all you potheads out there need to take a toke of your own medicine and chill out: Marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, making all the celebration about legalization a bit premature — just like certain other things when you’re high.