[Vision2020] Drunks, drugs, and the empathy factor

[Joan Opyr]

Dave Budge writes:

"Bush quit drinking and he probably quit drugging as well.  That, is his redeeming virtue. I can tell though that you may have difficulty understanding the difference between virtues and values. You should spend some time with that.  You're proselytizing from the cheap seats on this issue."

I would agree with you, Dave, except for the fact that Mr. Bush appears to have learned nothing from his experience as an alcoholic and a drug user about tolerance, rehab, detox, and treatment rather than incarceration for addicts.  The sentences for crack users (who tend to be the poor and/or minorities) are still greater than for upper class white coke users.  We put far too many impoverished, black, native, and latino/latina addicts in jail, and the current Bush budget will ensure that the already scarce dollars now available for treatment become as rare as hen's teeth.

FYI, I am not proselytizing from the cheap seats.  Would that I were.  I grew up in a family of alcoholics.  My grandfather, with whom I lived during my teenaged years, was an every-weekend binge drinker.  My father was a coke user, a pothead, and a small-time dealer.  I've experienced the Al-Anon side of AA and the pacing-the-floor concerned family members' side of detox.  Once your favorite resident drunk has again A) punched his wife in the mouth; B) set fire to the dog; or C) wrecked your birthday/Christmas/Hanukah/Thanksgiving/Easter/Fourth of July by loading up the shotgun and threatening to shoot the first bastard who dares to eat a deviled egg, I can only say that it's hard to be sympathetic or supportive when he or she goes to AA to collect that fourteenth white chip.  All is not forgiven, and the well of sympathy does run dry.

And speaking of dry, dry drunks are often more annoying that wet drunks.  The narcissism is still there, but it's channeled into intolerance and sanctimony.  I'm sure you recall some years back when Jeb Bush's daughter, Noelle, was arrested and placed in detox.  The Bush family asked that the press please respect Noelle's privacy and that they be allowed to deal with her addiction as a family.  I would be all for that, were it not for the fact that Jeb, the Governor of Florida, and his brother, the President, did not and do not accord that same degree of privilege to other users.  Other users are incarcerated.  Other users can never again qualify for federal student financial aid.  Any number of obstacles are thrown up in their paths to ensure that they remain forever on the fringes of society, never able to join that magical 15% who get clean and sober and build a worthwhile life.  (Or, alternatively, get elected.)

Yes, it's remarkable that George W. Bush got sober.  It's horrible, immoral, and tragic that he then chose to embrace hypocrisy for the sake of political advancement.

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment  Get more from the Web.  FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com
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