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Its official! The numbers are in once again! For I-dont-know-how-many-years-running, the United States, this so-called "land of the free," is imprisoning more people, in both absolute numbers and percentage of its population, than any other country in the world. Russia? China? Cuba? Zimbabwe? Vietnam? We put more people in the calaboose than any of them. And its not vast numbers of illegal aliens pouring over our borders were incarcerating. Its not terrorists. Its us. Were locking each other up in record numbers. This shouldnt come as any surprise because all the figures that support what Im saying come straight from our own justice department. Yet it is a surprise to most people I talk with.
Whats amazing is that some 80 percent of those in prison are there because of what they do to themselves. Theyre not murderers, rapists, child molesters, or robbers. Theyre not purveyors of death, mayhem, plunder, and destruction. Theyre simply people who are doing what they want with their own bodies. During Prohibition, it was a bottle of whiskey that could put you in the clink. Today, its "Light up a joint and go to the Big House." In fact, take out the murderers, child molesters, rapists, and robbers, and leave nothing but the consensual criminals, and wed still have more people in prison than any other country.
Its insane how we Americans are bent on regulating each others behavior. Witness seat belt laws (yes, you should drive with your seat belt on, but having cops pulling you over to enforce it?), drug laws, licensing laws, zoning laws, eminent domain abuses, blue laws, "free speech zones;" the list goes on ad nauseum. We think of ourselves as free, but we are simply the most regulated society in history. And we have more new rules, laws, and regulations pouring out of our legislatures and bureaucracies every year than any other country ever. We just cant get over this uniquely American obsession of outlawing each others behaviorand fining or jailing those who dont comply or conform.
And get this: We also have record numbers of people whose livelihoods now depend on ensuring others are deprived of their liberty. Get rid of victimless crimes and youd have to lay off tens of thousands of cops and start shutting down prisons, and most lawyers would have to find a productive line of work. Even drug kingpins would have to start flipping burgers when the prices of their drugs crash because theyre not "regulated" by government prohibition.
So, were not only bent on jailing those whose behavior we disapprove of, there are millions of Americans with economic reasons for keeping other Americans unfree, disenfranchised, and locked up. Because paying off mortgages, funding IRAs, and making car payments depend on the system as it stands, there is zero possibility that the problems all these regulations are supposed to be solving will ever go away. Worse, if they did go away, do you really think the regulators will clean out their desks and go home? They wont. Theyll create new laws, new reasons to throw you, your family, your friends, and your neighbors in prison. Little Johnny needs braces, so off you go to the dungeon. Imprisoning each other is now as American as apple pie.
(And, by the way, if the price of "illegal" drugs drops to that of a six pack of beer, drug users will no longer have to burgle, rob, or assault to get money to feed their habits. They'll be able to afford to buy them while theyre flipping burgers alongside the erstwhile drug kingpins. So, even the rate of violent crime will drop. That is, therell be even fewer people in prison for violent crimes than there are now. )
Despite the fact that this country was founded on the concept of natural or God-given rights, in other words, rights no man could take away, we have come to the belief that with a simple majority vote we can and should be able to deprive anyone of his or her rights.
Decades ago I read a statement by a historian who said that long after the fall of the Roman Empire, people still pridefully regarded themselves as Romans. He wrote they just didnt know or care to admit that Rome had become a victim of its own excesses and decadence and that the Empire was goneand so was Rome.
Ill bet that the last time most people read any part of the Constitution was as a kid, for a school assignment, and not as an adult when it would now mean something to them. And, having read it way back then, theyre not going to read it again. Not now. And because of that, they have no idea what the limits are that are supposed to be placed on our government; they have no idea what their freedoms are.
So, next year, I expect even more Americans to be imprisoned by their fellow countrymen. I expect more laws on the books at federal, state, and local levels. I expect more of our behaviors to be regulated. I expect more cops, lawyers, prison guards, and prisons. I expect more idiots will still be calling this "The Land of the Free." Like the Romans of old, were not smart enough to see that those days are long gone.
Whats amazing is that some 80 percent of those in prison are there because of what they do to themselves. Theyre not murderers, rapists, child molesters, or robbers. Theyre not purveyors of death, mayhem, plunder, and destruction. Theyre simply people who are doing what they want with their own bodies. During Prohibition, it was a bottle of whiskey that could put you in the clink. Today, its "Light up a joint and go to the Big House." In fact, take out the murderers, child molesters, rapists, and robbers, and leave nothing but the consensual criminals, and wed still have more people in prison than any other country.
Its insane how we Americans are bent on regulating each others behavior. Witness seat belt laws (yes, you should drive with your seat belt on, but having cops pulling you over to enforce it?), drug laws, licensing laws, zoning laws, eminent domain abuses, blue laws, "free speech zones;" the list goes on ad nauseum. We think of ourselves as free, but we are simply the most regulated society in history. And we have more new rules, laws, and regulations pouring out of our legislatures and bureaucracies every year than any other country ever. We just cant get over this uniquely American obsession of outlawing each others behaviorand fining or jailing those who dont comply or conform.
And get this: We also have record numbers of people whose livelihoods now depend on ensuring others are deprived of their liberty. Get rid of victimless crimes and youd have to lay off tens of thousands of cops and start shutting down prisons, and most lawyers would have to find a productive line of work. Even drug kingpins would have to start flipping burgers when the prices of their drugs crash because theyre not "regulated" by government prohibition.
So, were not only bent on jailing those whose behavior we disapprove of, there are millions of Americans with economic reasons for keeping other Americans unfree, disenfranchised, and locked up. Because paying off mortgages, funding IRAs, and making car payments depend on the system as it stands, there is zero possibility that the problems all these regulations are supposed to be solving will ever go away. Worse, if they did go away, do you really think the regulators will clean out their desks and go home? They wont. Theyll create new laws, new reasons to throw you, your family, your friends, and your neighbors in prison. Little Johnny needs braces, so off you go to the dungeon. Imprisoning each other is now as American as apple pie.
(And, by the way, if the price of "illegal" drugs drops to that of a six pack of beer, drug users will no longer have to burgle, rob, or assault to get money to feed their habits. They'll be able to afford to buy them while theyre flipping burgers alongside the erstwhile drug kingpins. So, even the rate of violent crime will drop. That is, therell be even fewer people in prison for violent crimes than there are now. )
Despite the fact that this country was founded on the concept of natural or God-given rights, in other words, rights no man could take away, we have come to the belief that with a simple majority vote we can and should be able to deprive anyone of his or her rights.
Decades ago I read a statement by a historian who said that long after the fall of the Roman Empire, people still pridefully regarded themselves as Romans. He wrote they just didnt know or care to admit that Rome had become a victim of its own excesses and decadence and that the Empire was goneand so was Rome.
Ill bet that the last time most people read any part of the Constitution was as a kid, for a school assignment, and not as an adult when it would now mean something to them. And, having read it way back then, theyre not going to read it again. Not now. And because of that, they have no idea what the limits are that are supposed to be placed on our government; they have no idea what their freedoms are.
So, next year, I expect even more Americans to be imprisoned by their fellow countrymen. I expect more laws on the books at federal, state, and local levels. I expect more of our behaviors to be regulated. I expect more cops, lawyers, prison guards, and prisons. I expect more idiots will still be calling this "The Land of the Free." Like the Romans of old, were not smart enough to see that those days are long gone.
