A FOUL TRAGEDY

Democrats Fled In The Face Of Danger

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.

Garrison Keillor is the host and writer of A Prairie Home Companion,
now in its 26th year on the air. This adapted excerpted from
Keillor's new book, Homegrown Democrat (Copyright 2004) is reprinted
by arrangement with Viking, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.