Libertarianism

Something is Broken

This entry was posted in ashcroft Capitalism Domestic Terrorism Drug Laws Law Enforcement Libertarianism on by

It is incarceration statistics time again and things have not improved in the US since we last visited this subject.
The rates are up:

Figures just released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics indicate that as of midyear 2003, there were nearly 2.1 million inmates in the nation�s prisons and jails, representing an increase of 2.9% over the previous twelve months.
This is a rate of 715 per 100,000 residents!!??
Who is the nearest competitor? It is Russia which jails 554 per 100,000 which is down from 690 per 100,000 in 1995.
How does the US compare to some other developed economies? It is not a pretty picture:
Rates of incarceration per 100,000 for other industrialized nations include Australia � 114, Canada — 116, England/Wales — 143, France — 95, Germany � 96, and Japan � 54.
Are you reading about uncontrolled lawlessness in any of these countries?
The numbers appear to support the points made by Zombyboy and the talking dog in the comments to this post that there is a large racist component in our existing drug laws:
One in eight (12.8%) black males aged 25-29 was in prison or jail at midyear 2002, as were 1 in 27(3.7%) Hispanic males and 1 in 63 (1.6%) white males in the same age group.
Things don’t look too good if you are a black male. And even worse if you are a black male drug user :
While African Americans constitute 13% of the nation�s monthly drug users, they represent 35% of those persons arrested for drug crime, 53% of drug convictions, and 58% of those in prison for drug offenses.
Who are the other 87% of drug users? No big surprise here: whites 72% of users, Hispanics 11% and others 4%.
To the folks that argue that the declining crime rates must be a result of the increased incarceration I say phooey. First, if this were the case then we should see declining admissions as well but, no, admissions are increasing. Second, we should be looking at these numbers and asking: Why do we need to jail so many at all? The real issue is that in the US, in the land of the free, some things are broken.
Societies that incarcerate this large a portion of their population need to do some serious self evaluation and reworking.
Governments that incarcerate this large a portion of their population need to be redesigned.
Via Talkleft and Let it Begin Here.

Ending the Addiction

This entry was posted in Capitalism Constitution Culture Domestic Terrorism Drug Laws Law Enforcement Libertarianism on by

Nope, not drug or alcohol addiction though I suspect Bill Masters, sheriff of San Miguel County, Colorado would support individuals working to end their addiction.
Instead Masters argues that it is time to end the drug war addiction:

“The only reason why drugs and crime have expanded to reach every Mayberry village in the country is our blind obedience to misguided laws and police tactics that just do not work,” Masters writes in his essay introducing the collection. “It is time to admit our own folly and stop our addiction to the drug war.”

What does the drug war addiction cost:

According to research cited in Master’s book The New Prohibition, state and federal authorities spend more than $9 billion a year to imprison close to half a million drug offenders. More people are sent to prison for drug offenses than for violent crimes, a trend that’s been consistent since 1989. The overall cost to the justice system of arresting, convicting, punishing and supervising drug offenders stands at about $70 billion a year.

$70 billion??? I suspect that we could find much better things to do with that money. Including, of course, rehabilitation and retraining for the ex drug war addicts.
The Masters article via Avedon Carol.

bush’s nader

This entry was posted in bush Constitution Election 2004 kerry Libertarianism US History on by

On Friday Michael Medved spent part of his radio program bashing libertarians or, in his words, loosertarians. I say part because I listened to only 15-20 minutes. He may well have spent the entire show on this subject. Does anyone know if other talk jocks have taken up libertarian bashing now that there has been so much discussion about bush possibly loosing the libertarian vote?
Medved’s attack, at least while I was listening, was primarily ad hominem and without substance.
I found it particularly interesting that Medved, a lawyer, found it important to put down one of the Libertarian candidates because this candidate was teaching an 8 hour class on the U.S. constitution in conjunction with the Libertarian convention. This suggested to me that Medved perhaps does not consider the consitution important or important for the president to understand.
g w bush has sworn to uphold the constitution but can you imagine him teaching a class on the constitution? Even one as short as 8 hours?
Just to be fair and balanced: while kerry’s presentation may be smoother then w’s it is not at all clear that either Yale grad could teach this short course.