Who would have ever thought that we’d hear this sort of thing uttered by Pat Robertson:
“We’re locking up people that have taken a couple puffs of marijuana and next thing you know they’ve got 10 years with mandatory sentences,” Robertson continued. “These judges just say, they throw up their hands and say nothing we can do with these mandatory sentences. We’ve got to take a look at what we’re considering crimes and that’s one of ’em.
“I’m … I’m not exactly for the use of drugs, don’t get me wrong, but I just believe that criminalizing marijuana, criminalizing the possession of a few ounces of pot, that kinda thing it’s just, it’s costing us a fortune and it’s ruining young people. Young people go into prisons, they go in as youths and come out as hardened criminals. That’s not a good thing.”
Well, even a broken clock, as they say.
Back when Reagan instigated the trend for mandatory sentencing, Robertson was all for it. I suppose he thought the threat would be enough to prevent abuse. For such a good salesman (of sawdust venom) he really is occasionally a piss poor judge of human nature. I suppose one could say better late than, but how come people can't be smart before they make a boneheaded judgment?
Mark: What caught my eye is not that he merely got it right, but that he is thinking sanely about the issue of people using drugs to feel a bit of pleasure, and the damage the criminal "justice" system is doing to those who get caught possessing or using a bit of marijuana. I think that he actually understands now that the "evil" of marijuana is no different in nature than the evil of "alcohol." That's a huge step for someone as backwards as Robertson. Maybe it will now be safe for lots of other Neanderthals to come out of the closet.
Erich, I don't think Robertson was ever "backward" in that sense. I think he knows—has always known—exactly what he's doing and what reality is. I think he's worse than a small-minded fundie—he's a conscious fraud bilking his followers.
Pat Robertson and Ronald Reagan gleefully maligned Democrats for being too loose with the pocketbook. However the Republican platform that brought us these mandatory sentencing guidelines, among other 'tough on crime'; measures, costs us an astronomical amount of money. The incarceration rate in our country is the highest in the world, with an average of 30k spent per year per prisoner. Refer to the Pew Center studies for more horrifying stats.
Not to mention the facile moralizing involved in the war on drugs that Robertson etc supported. By the way, I think it is appropriate to be cynical about this latest utterance from a long time publicity hound – it's just getting him more ink. Remember, he's the one who, according to Wikipedia:
"In late 1976, Robertson predicted that the end of the world was coming in October or November 1982. In a May 1980 broadcast of The 700 Club he stated, "I guarantee you by the end of 1982 there is going to be a judgment on the world." "
Xtech—there was: Ronald Reagan was elected president. By 1982, deregulation had been the norm in D.C. Slow motion apocalypse.