Richard Viguerie on conservatism and criminal justice

A remarkable editorial published yesterday in the New York Times by right-wing direct-mail guru Richard Viguerie makes the "conservative case for prison reform." The article opens with this bold pronouncement: "Conservatives should recognize that the entire criminal justice system is another government spending program fraught with the issues that plague all government programs. Criminal justice should be subject to the same level of skepticism and scrutiny that we apply to any other government program."

The aging conservative fundraising pioneer concluded, "By confronting this issue head on, conservatives are showing that our principles lead to practical solutions that make government less costly and more effective. We need to do more of that. Conservatives can show the way by impressing on more of our allies and political leaders that criminal justice reform is part of a conservative agenda."

I wonder how our friends at the police unions and the prosecutors' association feel about that? Those special interests have become accustomed to much greater deference from self-styled conservatives than the movement has lately displayed toward them. As a result, they've tended to become resentful of the grassroots conservatives who presently control the Texas GOP.

In 2011, TDCAA's lobbyist Shannon Edmonds wrote that "This session's infusion of Tea Party sentiment in the legislative process has affected the standard law and order calculus that we use to gauge the potential fate of various bills. That 'Tea Party sentiment' can be boiled down to this: 'The government is the enemy. You work for the government. Do the math.'" He and Viguerie essentially agree on the conservative view of the justice system. The "enemy" rhetoric evinces paranoia, but Edmonds is right to fear that 21st century movement conservatives aren't as likely to give law enforcement a pass as their predecessors a decade or two ago.

Viguerie justly credits Texas for pioneering efforts in 2007 to reduce incarceration rates instead of spending an extra $2 billion or so on new prison construction. Texas has been deservedly lionized for its 2007 probation reforms, as were Sen. John Whitmire and since-retired Rep. Jerry Madden who co-authored the reforms. But here in the Lone Star State we're painfully aware that, since then, the state has been resting on its laurels and subsequent sessions, including the most recent one, failed to follow up with more substantive de-incarceration reforms.

Still, Viguerie's column is an adept, concise statement of small-government conservative principles on criminal justice and provides a useful template for pitching criminal-justice reform issues to movement conservatives, for whom Viguerie is a virtual godfather. Good stuff. Bully for Marc Levin and his "Right on Crime" coalition for recruiting so many high-profile conservative bigwigs to their cause.

Via The American Conservative.