Yes, the Pope should probably butt out of U.S. politics. And so should some of his subordinates.
For once, I agree with Glenn Reynolds: given the recent record of the Roman Catholic Church in controlling the misbehavior of its own employees — and given the current Pope’s apparent support for some of those who managed the cover-up — the Pope occupies a poor position from which to criticize the leader of any other institution for its similar failings. (Though given how polite His Holiness was in reminding President Bush about Abu Ghraib, Glenn and those he approvingly quotes might have been just a little more polite in criticizing such a widely-venerated leader who is also terminally ill.)
I wonder if Glenn agrees with me that Catholic prelates in general might do well to limit their interventions into politics until they’ve managed to clean up their own act.
No, I didn’t think so.
Author: Mark Kleiman
Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out.
Books:
Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken)
When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist
Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993)
Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989)
UCLA Homepage
Curriculum Vitae
Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com
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