BUSH'S SHELTERED LIFE: THE DRUG WAR COMES HOME

Re: "Leave the Bush daughters alone," Viewpoints, June 6, by E.J. Dionne,
on Jenna and Barbara Bush and their legal troubles that have resulted from
running afoul of the liquor laws.

Mr. Dionne is upset about the press coverage of Jenna and Barbara Bush due
to their run-ins with the cops regarding their violations of the laws
concerning minor-in-possession/underage drinking.

He says the coverage has been unfair and excessive, that the "kids" should
not be legitimate targets of public and press scrutiny, that the
journalists should respect the privacy of "children" of politicians. I take
issue with that.

The War on Drugs received little attention during the presidential campaign.

Then, neither George W. Bush nor Al Gore wanted to discuss in any great
detail what is or should have been the salient issue.

Now, Mr. Bush and his apologists are asking for special consideration for
his daughters.

Mr. Dionne uses the words "kids" and "children" to refer to the Bush
daughters, but in the same article he acknowledges that they are both 19.
Sorry, Mr. Dionne, but they have long since left the "kids" category.

They are not really adolescents either. One can assume that at 19 they have
reached their full physical and mental maturity.

Remember, George W. was governor of a state where they are willing to
execute 14-year-olds and where one state legislator introduced a bill to
lower the age of execution to 10.

The Texas prison system has the highest suicide rate in the nation and the
Texas Legislature is filled with people who constantly come up with new
ways to make the lives of the prisoners even more miserable. During the
campaign George W. claimed that he was a compassionate conservative. He
said that the laws against drugs should not be more harmful than the drugs
themselves. However, once in office he appointed John Ashcroft as attorney
general, John Walters as drug czar and Asa Hutchinson as director of the
Drug Enforcement Administration, all notorious for being extremists in
defense of prohibition, all long-time hard-liners in the War on Drugs. Now,
Mr. Bush finds his daughters threatened by a monster that he did not create
but that he has done much to defend.

Mr. Bush was never reluctant to send the sons and daughters of other
parents to prison or the death chamber and perhaps the reason is that he
has a rather sheltered mentality which is a product of his sheltered life.
His sheltered mentality deceived him into believing that he and his family
were exempt from the harsh consequences that drug prohibition has visited
on so many others, a mentality that never motivated him to consider that
his loved ones might someday be victims of prohibition. Perhaps now, after
the arrest of his daughters, he will do some serious soul-searching,
perhaps he will re-examine some of his long-held beliefs regarding the
righteousness of prohibition, perhaps he will not be so eager to condemn
others but will realize the wisdom contained in the old phrase, "There but
for the grace of God go I." I certainly hope so.

CLINE RUSSELL, Irving, Texas