The Fog of Justice

Well, it is news that state Judge Michael McSpadden wrote to Gov. Perry about harsh penalties and mandatory sentences for two-bit drug busts clogging the courts and costing us millions, but don’t hold your breath waiting for reform. I’m all for pragmatism, but this doesn’t quite hit the mark as a “McNamara moment” where he figures out that he was wrong to be sending people up the river for the last twenty years. Worse, I just don’t see anything coming from this. How many years did it take Perry to pardon the Tulia defendants? A state executive and legislature that can’t do anything right are not going to become brave all of the sudden and buck the ayatollahs they’ve been pandering to all these years. Progressives in Texas are going to have to wait for the other 49 states to do bold experiments in harm reduction, personal liberty, and equal justice under law. Prohibition is just too great an opportunity for the private prison industry, their lobbyists, the legislators they support, the many law enforcement agencies addicted to tax dollars and seizure proceeds, and blue-nosed bible beaters that ‘doth protest too much.’
Now, prove me wrong, please.