Roger Stone belongs in prison for a very long time. The seven felonies of which he stands convicted are at heart crimes of political corruption — lying to Congress and tampering with witnesses in order to impede a federal investigation into official wrongdoing. The charges together could have brought him 50 years in prison — and that would not have been unjust.

Crimes committed by politically powerful people in the service of politically powerful people corrupt our system of government and undermine faith in our institutions. They should be punished much more harshly than, say, selling a couple of grams of cocaine.