The Oregonian reported earlier this week that a closed-door meeting between ONDCP bureaucrats, other federal officials and members of the House Methamphetamine Conference did not go well, to say the least. Rep. Mark Souder, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy,
and Human Resources, came away fuming:

Souder [called] the presentation "pathetic" and "an embarrassment." He said officials seemed more interested in defending the status quo than developing a meaningful national meth strategy.

"If they continue to defend the way they're going," he said, "it's time for some of the top people to resign."

Souder said later in an interview that he specifically wanted the resignation of Dave Murray, a Walters adviser, who led the briefing. But Souder also suggested Walters should go, as well.

"Clearly, if he does not lead, we need a change of the drug czar," Souder said. He added later, "If Director Walters and anyone else in that office agrees with what was said today, they should resign." [...]

"I don't trust the director's office to make the decisions anymore," Souder said.

Souder's committee ostensibly has the authority make funding of the ONDCP contingent upon placement of hand-picked individuals within the agency. Perhaps there will be a Souder-led Stalinist purge of "Drug War reactionaries" at the ONDCP, which would be "sauce for the goose" indeed. But a national drug control policy written by Mark Souder will surely be more punitive, draconian, and fiscally extravagant than current policies.

One thing is certain, however: any future national drug control strategy that emphasizes law enforcement and mass incarceration is just as likely to be as ineffective as what exists now.

Clearly, Mark Souder is not among those Republicans who despise big government, especially since he is the Congressional Drug War equivalent of Il Duce. One keeps waiting for a conservative Congressional voice to critique the Drug War on the bases of domestic federalism and the supraconstitutional, international exercise of power within other nations. Can it really be a decade since leading GOP officeholders decried the U.S. operating as "global policeman?"

The reality is that limited-government conservatives are probably somewhere between the Arroyo Southwestern Toad and the Alameda Whipsnake on the Endangered Species List -- which suits pundit Fred Barnes and the rest of The Weekly Standard crowd just fine.

[Hat tip to Clif Burns for the great photo.]