A Foul Tragedy
Democrats fled in the face of danger
By Garrison Keillor
We Democrats are at our worst when we try to emulate Republicans as we
did in signing onto the “war” on drugs that has ruined so many young
lives.
The cruelty of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 is stark indeed, as are
the sentencing guidelines that impose mandatory minimum sentences for
minor drug possession—guidelines in the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act that
sailed through Congress without benefit of public hearings, drafted
before an election by Democrats afraid to be labeled “soft on drugs.” As
a result, a marijuana grower can land in prison for life without parole
while a murderer might be in for eight years. No rational person can
defend this; it is a Dostoevskian nightmare and it exists only because
politicians fled in the face of danger. That includes Bill Clinton, under
whose administration the prosecution of Americans for marijuana went up
hugely, so that now there are more folks in prison for marijuana than for
violent crimes. More than for manslaughter or rape. This only makes sense
in the fantasy world of Washington, where perception counts for more than
reality. To an old Democrat, who takes a ground view of politics—What is
the actual effect of this action on the lives of real people?—it is a
foul tragedy that makes you feel guilty about enjoying your freedom.
If suddenly on a Friday night the red lights flash and the cops yank your
teenage son and his little envelope of marijuana into the legal
meatgrinder and some bullet-headed prosecutor decides to flex his muscle
and charge your teenager—because he had a .22 rifle in his upstairs
bedroom closet—with a felony involving the use of a firearm, which under
our brutal sentencing code means he can be put on ice for 20 years, and
the prosecutor goes at him hammer and tong and convinces a passive jury
and your boy’s life is sacrificed so this creep can run for Congress next
year—this is not your cross alone to bear. If the state cuts off your
right hand with a meat cleaver on my account and I don’t object, then it
is my cleaver and my fingerprints on it.
I don’t dare visit Sandstone Federal Prison here in Minnesota for fear of
what I’d see there: People who chose marijuana, a more benign drug than
alcohol, and got caught in the religious war that we Democrats in a weak
moment signed onto. God help us if we form alliance with such bullies as
would destroy a kid’s life for raising cannabis plants.
--
Enkidu AA#2165
EAC Chaplain and ordained minister,
ULC, Modesto, CA
PGP ID: 0xC4CE8CF0
A theologian is like a blind person in a dark room searching for a black
cat which isn't there -- and finding it!
-- unknown
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