Liberals have long been notorious for convoluted, over-elaborate “solutions” to fairly straightforward problems.  Often, these are derived from bureaucratic processes and can’t be explained in any rational sense.  The entire liberal program, from the New Deal (with its destruction of farm produce in the midst of a depression) to the Vietnam War (with its “semiotic” combat tactics) to Obamacare (which magically expands the number of people insured by canceling insurance policies), is infested with these efforts.

So the announcement of an internal memo ordering the New York City police to stop arresting drug dealers over the age of forty does not come as much of a shock.  But there remain plenty of aspects that are best characterized as mysterious – what, exactly, it’s supposed to accomplish, for one thing.  It can be assumed that it fulfills some requirement of Mayor de Blasio or his staff, but what that might be remains a matter of conjecture.

This is one of those left-of-center brainstorms that please nobody – not the police, not the prosecutors, not the public.  Even some former dope dealers have been aroused to criticism.  One of the main problems of this effort – as is usually the case – is that it’s so obviously self-defeating.  Dope rings will simply hire a larger number of older dealers to work the streets, with the younger hoods relegated to being lookouts, runners, and so forth.  More dope, more crime, and NYC sinking even deeper into pre-Giuliani decadence.