I don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of partisan politics! Regardless of your political affiliation, it is insane how little compromise our nation’s “leaders” are willing to give. It makes me totally sick!
Not surprisingly, today, the 112th Congress is stalled, mired in partisan conflict. It seems to have been the case since I have been old enough to understand and follow anything to do with politics.
Partisanship has led Congress to move too fast, and that produced trouble. Twenty-five years ago last Thursday (Oct. 27), President Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, after less than ninety days of jockeying between the Democratic House and Republican Senate.
The political wrangling was triggered by the cocaine death of Maryland basketball star Len Bias on June 19, 1986 as he celebrated signing with the Boston Celtics. In the media blitz following his tragedy, House Speaker "Tip" O'Neill from Boston spotted political opportunity for Democrats to claim anti-drug leadership in time for the election. Eager to complete a package before the August campaigns, the bills were very hastily written.
Flaws in the Laws!
The law's best known blunders were the long sentences for small amounts of drugs. Congress finally acknowledged the unfairness of crack sentencing and its racial disparity when it passed the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. But many other features of the 1986 law were also bad policy.
Total Waste of Money
The Drug-Free Schools program of 1986 got about $12 billion over twenty years. Every evaluation found it did not reduce drug use. The Administration finally eliminated this waste last year when the proof of its ineffectiveness at last overcame its political attractiveness -- $500 to 600 million per year in contracts and salaries. Now that truly is scary. They wasted money for 25 years before finally saw the light of a wasted $500 Million or more!!