from someone who is behind on child support, or even putting someone on a lifetime public sex offender list so they can be punished FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES always sounds great to Republicans, especially those who call themselves 'Christians.'
But it isn't a good idea. It hurts our people by creating a permanent underclass of people who aren't employable and are forced to live any way they can. The result: recidivism up, prisons full, crime up, insurance and security costs higher and a drag on the economy from less demand for goods and services.
It is more than that, though. We've gotten so used to trying to argue with these conservative know-nothings using facts and numbers, but that doesn't work. They keep doing shit like what that idiot Brownback is doing in Kansas. Thank God I don't live there!
Let's talk about the real cost, then, shall we? Besides all the other things I've mentioned, there is a huge moral and social cost to arranging our economy so that an ever-increasing group lose everything forever. It's wrong. The purpose of our corrections system is to punish people for crimes they've committed, but when someone finishes his/her sentence, then that debt to society is paid. It's time for a second chance. To create policies that hold people down their whole lives goes against everything this country is supposed to stand for.
I know many of you reading this aren't Christian or or even religious at all, but one of the greatest lessons the bible teaches is the golden rule; to do unto others as you would wish them to do unto you. Religion aside, if you're following this rule, then it means you have empathy, which is the ability to put your self in the other person's place. You also have compassion, and are ready to extend mercy, kindness and new opportunity just because that's what you would want if the situation were reversed and you were the downtrodden.
Where have we lost this basic morality? During my life so many people have extended kindness and mercy to me, and not ground on me like they could have...and I have paid this forward. Why do we have to create merciless and hateful policies? Shouldn't the policies we create reflect who we are as a people?
Just some thoughts...
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