Discussion for article #243318
Ok then…Criminal Justice Reform is being reformed by criminals…just like Tax Reform was reformed by the Corporations’ Puppets in congress…
While Beltway pundits confidently trumpeted all year that there was a great likelihood for sentencing reform, it was so easy to see that this was always at best an uphill battle.
Congress just isn’t set up for bipartisan problem solving – mainly because of the erratic mess of a party that runs both chambers. Secondly, that same dysfunctional party is dominated by selfish demagogues who not just might – but will – attack as a “leftist” sellout any centrist solution. And that dynamic becomes even stronger once the dysfunctional congressional process slogs its way into an election year.
There never was any way that Ted Cruz could resist demagoguing criminal justice reform. Given that reality what gave Beltway pundits so much faith in the miracle that spineless Republican “moderates” like Grassley (who in any other age would be considered as extreme conservative) would brave being Tea Partied in the '16 primaries just so that they could do the right thing. Not a lot of Arlen Specters in that caucus nowadays (not that he was some sort of saint).
Never say never, I suppose, but the odds surely are against meaningful reform.
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Which means, they weren’t going to do it any way.