Can somebody give me a good reason why they even exist?
Isn't the concept, on it's face, a big "Fuck you" to our judicial system?
Isn't it the kind of power, oh, I don't know... a KING might have?
Honestly, as a country, as a democracy, as a people, what does this buy us?
Can anyone give an example of a presidential pardon that was actually good for the country? (And please, don't say Ford pardoned Nixon and that helped the nation heal. Bull. That wound is still festering today, and it's because of Ford's pardon.)
UPDATE: I sent an email to Kevin Drum over at the excellent Washington Monthly, to see if he would opine on this. I actually don't expect him to. I'm sure he gets lots of requests like mine. But just thought I'd throw it out there. We'll see...
ANOTHER UPDATE: Kevin wrote me back on the same day. I think that was very cool of him. Here is his response...
Well, the vast majority of presidential pardons involve low-level folks
most of us have never heard of. Some of them are pretty deserving. But
the only ones that make the news are the big political pardons, like the
Iran-Contra folks or Marc Rich.
So, overall, it's hard to say. In any case, since they're part of the
constitution, they aren't going away.
I was a little disappointed that he didn't really answer my question. After all, who are these "low level folks" that are "pretty deserving"? How and why did the justice system fail them? And is it the end of the discussion to say that "since they're part of the constitution, they aren't going away"?
I guess I'm of a mind that the constitution is a living document, meaning it can be changed.
Anyway, it was really neat to hear back from Kevin on this. That he took the time to answer me (and in such a timely fashion) speaks volumes about the guy. Kudos!
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