The term "bleeding-heart liberal" must exist because of hard evidence. For some reason, perhaps guilt by association, lefties often want the world to be as they wish it ... not as it is. So, President Barack Obummer and Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown, Governor of California, are both in a pardoning and sentence commutation frenzy ... particularly insofar as drug dealers are concerned (many also with gun violations). Over his eight years in office, Obama has pardoned or commuted the sentence of 1324 felons ... see: NY Times Article ... with some more Bill-Clinton-like bomb shells likely to occur before January 20th. And Brown has had equivalent but likely misguided compassion ... forgiving the sins of 856 mostly drug felons ... see: LA Times Article.
Yes, the federal and often state Constitutions grant these government executives these powers ... but I don't believe that the framers believed that they would be granted in such a blanket fashion. Yes, in the past, there have been overall pardons granted to soldiers after the Civil War, for polygamist Mormons and for the draft evaders in the Vietnam War ... but these were special cases. It would appear to this observer that Obama and Brown's mass forgiveness comes out of a sense of empathy with these criminals ... both executives having been heavy drug users in their pasts.
It is almost a certainty that some of these released felons will display recidivism and return to their criminal ways ... at which time bleeding hearts will most certainly result in more bleeding bodies.
Afterward: Over the past year both presidential candidates and the media have focused on the epidemic of drug use and abuse that is sweeping our nation. Somehow, releasing thousands of drug dealers back onto our streets likely won't help this problem ... and actually may be part of the reason it exists in the first place.
