Over one in a hundred Americans are in state and federal prison. In California, 31% are in prison for drug-related crimes. My state will likely choose to cut education spending by 10%, yet is not considering decriminalizing drug use because the Republicans have to be "tough on crime" and the Democrats are backed by the prison guard union (to his credit, Arnold has threatened to pardon some nonviolent offenders with less than 20 months left in their sentences and suggested cutting the prison budget by $250 million). Also, we constantly hear complaints about prisoners getting cable TV, three meals a day, etc. from the same people who insist on incarcerating drug users. Even if they really do get cable, our prison-industrial complex's inefficiencies cost much more than cable TV subscriptions.
Much of the money gets wasted on bureaucracy; in fact, overall the prisoners get very little. According to a friend's female family member who went to prison, they use a two cups (480 ml) of detergent per 100 lbs. of clothes and inadequately supply menstrual fluid protection products. Though I bet the feminine hygiene and laundry detergent lobbies are much weaker than the cable television lobby, a more likely reason that we spend too money per prisoner is that we really don't spend much on the prisoners themselves but instead spend too much money on unneeded bureaucracy, corrupt contracts, and overly unionized prison employees.
Ironically, one thing we need is more prison guards per prisoner, or at least a better system of running prisons so that pecky, violent hierarchies don't form. We can pay for it by ending the war on crime and breaking the prison lobby, including weakening the prison employee union. Then we'd have more money for balancing the budget, tax cuts, and education.
However, the prison budget's unlikely to shrink with state Republicans refusing to raise taxes or end the wars on drugs and crime for social reasons, and state Democrats refusing to end the wars on drugs and crime because they're backed by the prison guard union.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Obligatory "yay I made a blog" post
Well, I've always liked analyzing politics, debating politics, and talking about politics, and I've recently begun participating in politics. I'm soon going to a campaign kick-off for a local student government candidate so I won't make a lengthy post, so I guess I'll post a few things about myself and political views:
*I'm 19 years old, and go to UC Berkeley.
*I'm a registered Democrat.
*I voted for Barack Obama for President.
*I strongly support lowering the voting age to 16. Even though young people are less likely to be mature enough to vote than older people, it isn't fair to not let people who are old enough to pay taxes decide how those tax dollars are spent. So, to me the voting age is a fairness issue that has nothing to do with maturity.
*I strongly support lowering the drinking age to 18 or possibly lower; it must be federally lowered so that people from states with higher ages don't drive into more liberal states and get killed in a drunk driving accident on the way back. We can do this by changing the drinking age in the National Legal Minimum Drinking Age Act from 21 to 18 (or whatever age we decide on), and further amending the NLMDAA so that states cannot go above the drinking age; right now, theoretically a state could raise its drinking age and it wouldn't be deprived of federal highway funds.
*I know that not everybody of college age goes to college, and think that we often forget the people who don't.
*I opposed the Iraq War and think we should begin to leave as soon as possible. The troop surge slightly reduced violence but it is not working, and our continued presence merely delays, but does not avert, a temporary escalation in the civil war and thus an eventual stable Iraq (or multiple stable Iraqi states).
*I oppose the death penalty in practice since I think that executing one falsely convicted person is one person too many, though morally I support executing murderers, rapists, and child molesters.
*I don't support punishing most drug users in any way, shape, or form, including "drug courts" that give incredibly light sentences but still annoy the drug user.
*I support universal healthcare.
*I think Social Security should be abolished if we can figure out a way to not screw over everybody who's already paid into it.
*I don't think the government should issue marriage licenses, but if it does then it should issue them to homosexual couples as well.
*I strongly support anti-discrimination laws.
*I oppose affirmative action but don't think it's accurate to call it "reverse racism."
*I'm a liberal, and like most people my age, I don't think it's a dirty word.
*I'm 19 years old, and go to UC Berkeley.
*I'm a registered Democrat.
*I voted for Barack Obama for President.
*I strongly support lowering the voting age to 16. Even though young people are less likely to be mature enough to vote than older people, it isn't fair to not let people who are old enough to pay taxes decide how those tax dollars are spent. So, to me the voting age is a fairness issue that has nothing to do with maturity.
*I strongly support lowering the drinking age to 18 or possibly lower; it must be federally lowered so that people from states with higher ages don't drive into more liberal states and get killed in a drunk driving accident on the way back. We can do this by changing the drinking age in the National Legal Minimum Drinking Age Act from 21 to 18 (or whatever age we decide on), and further amending the NLMDAA so that states cannot go above the drinking age; right now, theoretically a state could raise its drinking age and it wouldn't be deprived of federal highway funds.
*I know that not everybody of college age goes to college, and think that we often forget the people who don't.
*I opposed the Iraq War and think we should begin to leave as soon as possible. The troop surge slightly reduced violence but it is not working, and our continued presence merely delays, but does not avert, a temporary escalation in the civil war and thus an eventual stable Iraq (or multiple stable Iraqi states).
*I oppose the death penalty in practice since I think that executing one falsely convicted person is one person too many, though morally I support executing murderers, rapists, and child molesters.
*I don't support punishing most drug users in any way, shape, or form, including "drug courts" that give incredibly light sentences but still annoy the drug user.
*I support universal healthcare.
*I think Social Security should be abolished if we can figure out a way to not screw over everybody who's already paid into it.
*I don't think the government should issue marriage licenses, but if it does then it should issue them to homosexual couples as well.
*I strongly support anti-discrimination laws.
*I oppose affirmative action but don't think it's accurate to call it "reverse racism."
*I'm a liberal, and like most people my age, I don't think it's a dirty word.
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