A Democrat asked me why didn't praise former president Biden for commuting the sentences of 2500 nonviolent drug offenders, yet praised Trump for pardoning a single man, Ross Ulbricht.
https://apnews.com/article/biden-commutes-2500-nonviolent-drug-offenders-83174cd0602a0bf5d491aa60184f3568
It was easy for me to see that pardoning Ulbricht was an unalloyed good, as I'm very familiar with the case.
On the other hand, Biden's pardons are ethically murkier. I'm happy if truly innocent people have been released, but I'm not happy if someone goes free solely because they have politically connected friends / family.
Biden pre-emptively pardoned many members of his family, cronies, and other people who probably should face trial, at least. I'm not sure how much to praise him for release of innocents, versus condemn him for pardoning monsters.
Also, given that Biden was a principal architect of the War on Drugs policies that _caused_ millions of people to be caged, it's galling for me to congratulate him for releasing a few of them at the close of his career.
However, better late than never, and assuming that the people he pardoned are actually non-violent drug offenders, I'm grateful that he set them free.
https://apnews.com/article/biden-commutes-2500-nonviolent-drug-offenders-83174cd0602a0bf5d491aa60184f3568
It was easy for me to see that pardoning Ulbricht was an unalloyed good, as I'm very familiar with the case.
On the other hand, Biden's pardons are ethically murkier. I'm happy if truly innocent people have been released, but I'm not happy if someone goes free solely because they have politically connected friends / family.
Biden pre-emptively pardoned many members of his family, cronies, and other people who probably should face trial, at least. I'm not sure how much to praise him for release of innocents, versus condemn him for pardoning monsters.
Also, given that Biden was a principal architect of the War on Drugs policies that _caused_ millions of people to be caged, it's galling for me to congratulate him for releasing a few of them at the close of his career.
However, better late than never, and assuming that the people he pardoned are actually non-violent drug offenders, I'm grateful that he set them free.