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Every once in a while, the American people are treated to a politician who seems to lead more on principle and ideals than merely on the revolving door policy of getting re-elected. Though in these times of two-party politics, a politician who hopes to really make a difference must generally choose one party or the other, such a politician as previously described seems to be almost above partisan politics, because the issues they foster become more important than the party they represent.

Before him there was Washington, and Jefferson, Monroe, and Madison, Lincoln and Roosevelt. And now there is Senator Jim Webb? That is lofty company for a man who is still a Junior Senator, in his first term, but his service to this nation preceded his election to the Senate and since he entered the Senate, he has distinguished himself.

It doesn’t matter that he’s a Democrat, and it matters not what state he represents. What matters most, is That Senator Webb of Virginia identifies problems that gnaw at the very heart of America, for which he then throws himself into not only finding and proposing viable solutions, but also into recruiting allies to his cause, so that eventually he can accomplish a legislative solution. That is what makes Senator Jim Webb a great legislator, an asset to the Democratic Party, and an asset to the American people.

Follow up:

On his very first day in office, he introduced a bill that would give Iraq and Afghan war veterans the same benefits upon discharge as those enjoyed by World War II veterans returning home. For some reason, Bush, McCain and some of the other war mongers did not support it. And why? Because they want to wage war, and send the “grunts” to war to do their dirty work for them, but when the troops come home, they immediately lose their value, and are discarded back into society, and viewed as drain on the budget, just more lazy citizens with their hands out, whining for assistance and medical care.

Thanks to Senator Jim Webb, those of our armed services who have volunteered to serve, despite the often ill-advised manner in which their services are used, they will now be better cared for, and hopefully have a smoother transition back into what is often an unkind, uncaring society.

Senator Webb now wants to tackle prison reform. Webb considers our current prison system, and the policies that fill them “a national disgrace.” With 5% of the world’s population, we have 25% of the world’s known prisoners. And with drugs, corruption and violence the normal way of life in jail, they are the institutions of rehabilitation they were originally intended to be. They present more of a revolving door into the world of crime and criminal behavior.

America has more than 2.3 million people in prison, 5 times higher than the worlds average incarceration rate, with another 5 million people still in the system on parole or probation, and the number of drug offenders in prison has increased 1200% since 1980 (for every 1 person in jail in 1980, we now have 12). Research also shows that 4 times as many mentally ill people are in prison than in metal health facilities. Yet for all of this politically popular tough stance on crime, and the huge cost to taxpayers, Webb rightly points out that our streets and neighborhoods are no safer with drugs, gangs and violence rampant, a clear indication that our justice system is failing.

March 29th editorial in Parade.

"With so many of our citizens in prison compared with the rest of the world, there are only two possibilities: Either we are home to the most evil people on earth or we are doing something different--and vastly counterproductive. Obviously, the answer is the latter."

As anyone who is trying to tackle a problem, and get at the truth of the causes behind it Jim Webb understands that you can leave no stone unturned. Politics needs to be thrown out the window, and if something is identified to be a major factor that exacerbates the problem it must be dealt with, even if it is a political hot potato. At the beginning of this year, Senator Webb introduced a bill to have a national commission with the leader appointed by the president to examine all aspects of the problem, from sentencing, conditions inside the prisons, reentry programs and the gang situations to come up with a list of policy recommendations.

CNN's American Morning, broadcast Apr. 23, 2009, with CNN's Kiran Chetry

Chetry: “Why can’t we control what happens in our prisons?”

Webb: “The question isn’t just the prisons. The question is the criminal justice system writ large, uh how we decide who goes to jail, uh what we do with them when they’re inside jail, how we assist people who want to lead a better life when they get out, how we deal with the situation with gangs, uh, they, they all interrelate. I think it’s just one of these things that every American has a self interest in fixing, and yet when you get up here in the policy level, it just continually falls off the radar screen because politicians don’t want to be accused of being soft on crime, uh, and uh, it’s just not one of these issues that uh you see make the floor in a comprehensive way. This is what we want to do, this is like a chance, one chance in 50 years to really get our arms around this and fix it.”

Chetry: "I want to ask you about something else, the huge percentage of the growth of incarcerations since the 1980’s. A lot of this is the result of non-violent crimes, as we’ve been talking about…60% of people in state prisons are serving time for a drug offense, who are serving time for a drug offense have had no prior history of violence, or any significant selling activity, so once again the question goes back to legalization, is there some way to address this problem, and would you support perhaps legalizing marijuana?"

Webb: "Well, I think what we need to do is to put all the issues on the table. You're correct, if you go back to 1980 as a starting point, I think we had 40,000 people in prison on drug charges and today we have about a half a million of them, and the great majority of those are non-violent crimes, possession crimes or minor sales, at the same time, we've got a situation with Mexican drug cartels conducting violence along the border, operating in more than 230 American cities, and we aren't getting our arms around that in a proper way. So, we need to put it all on the table, that's why we need a presidential commission to look at these things, people who have high stature in these career areas, and to report to the Congress on the best way to go forward. But, nothing should be off the table."

Chetry: "Alright, and that includes, as you were saying, possibly looking at legalization?"

Webb: "Well, I think they should examine every aspect of drug policy to see what's working and what's not working, and where the consistencies are, and quite frankly where the inconsistencies are in terms of how people end up in the (prison) system with uh, similar activities."

Now that Senator Jim Webb has publicly identified the problem, and is championing the cause, those of us who feel the U.S. War on Drugs is a major problem that tears at the very fabric of the American dream of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, maybe now, we have a chance to see that dream fulfilled once again.

William S. James, Hopeful?