What we saw unfold last week from the rolling, quiet, septuagenarian-saturated hills of Adair County is, dare I say, an intoxicating exercise in civil disobedience.

In case anyone missed it, Rep. Clel Baudler, R-Greenfield, went to California last spring and obtained a medical marijuana card under admittedly false pretenses. “So what?” you say, “So did my cousin.” Touche.

But that’s not the point. I did not even try to find estimates on the number of illegitimate medical marijuana prescriptions because technically, at the federal level, they’re all illegal. In essence, what Baudler did is something I applaud.

He broke a law with which he vehemently disagrees to call to question it’s legitimacy. I cannot doubt this man’s spirit. What I can doubt is his ability to rationally govern.

The impetus for all of this was Baudler’s “hate” of illegal drugs. As a retired state trooper, I would never doubt he saw the sometimes ravaging and deleterious effects of drug and alcohol abuse. But after reading this man’s pot manifesto, I’m confused about the true nature of his hate.

In a newsletter to constituents in fall 2010, Baudler retold his experience in California. He went to visit his son and son’s family, and while there went to see an “oriental” doctor. He calls into question the man’s medical credentials by using quotes around the word doctor and telling of how six minutes of the 15-minute consultation were spent overcoming a language barrier. He also describes the appearance of staff and security personnel at the health centers he went to, offering commentary on the amount of tattoos and piercings he saw.

So does he hate weed, or the smelly hippies — inked and iron-clad — who smoke it? It’s an important distinction.

I understand that a letter to supporting constituents is going to contain little else besides bloviation and half-truths that those constituents eat up; in this case like Worther’s Originals.

But Oriental? Really? I don’t think that is the preferred nomenclature these days.

The thing is, the fight Baudler is fighting currently hasn’t got a lot of backing. Many groups in Iowa are trying to push forward with laws allowing for the medical use of marijuana, but these initiatives are in legislative purgatory as the two government bodies with control over the issue — the state Pharmacy Board and State Legislature — can’t seem to decide who would get to make any new rules.

It’s an issue so politically hot that the only kind of politician who would willingly take it up is one with nothing to lose. In this case, Baudler’s House seat. His ripe, old supporters back in Greenfield wouldn’t have a second thought of re-electing their man.

It is so encouraging to see a politician stand up against what he feels are unjust or unscrupulous laws. But when that energy is directed toward issues that advance and solve nothing and are fueled by personal biases and decades of misinformation, it becomes very discouraging.

Little will come of this fiasco, I imagine. But what should come of it is holding our elected leaders responsible for tackling meaningful issues that will have a profound economic and educational impact on future Iowans.

Stop the weed witch-hunt Baudler, and instead think of some ways to keep young people in Iowa rather than giving them reasons to leave.