William Jefferson Clinton: We have Too Many People in prison

[franklin]

It is the idealist in me. Hoping that at some point we get some leaders with integrity. My deeply held personal opinion is a quasi-religious one, that lack of morals plays a role in shaping society, especially among those we put in place to lead. And then going with the plumber's maxim: **** rolls downhill. It we put more **** in high places it is just more **** to rain down on us all.

What do you mean? Our leaders are supposed to be representatives with a brain, not populist vote pullers. Leaders in a republic have to play the game. It's part of the job description. It sounds to me like you want a pure democracy where we vote for people who tell us exactly what they will do instead of telling us what we want to hear and then voting how they see best for the nation.

 

[Archie Moses]

If I remember the numbers correctly, the US has 4% of the world's population, but someone manages to have 50% of the entire world's incarcerated population. Something is very wrong with that.

 

[babe]

If I remember the numbers correctly, the US has 4% of the world's population, but someone manages to have 50% of the entire world's incarcerated population. Something is very wrong with that.

I thought you were going to say us 4%ers have 50% of the world's stuff.

Looking at the reasons for incarcerations, it turns out not to be the potheads, but the petty thieves who try to steal of loaf of bread from 7-11s.

The facts are, the top 1%ers of the "4%ERS", OR THE .04%, OWN NOT 50% OF THE WORLD, BUT 90%. Or so it seems to the little campsters behind the shrubs next to the overpass, who sometimes opt to steal a loaf of bread from the 7-11 just to get back on the prison grub train.

 

[babe]

I thought you were going to say us 4%ers have 50% of the world's stuff.

Looking at the reasons for incarcerations, it turns out not to be the potheads, but the petty thieves who try to steal of loaf of bread from 7-11s.

The facts are, the top 1%ers of the "4%ERS", OR THE .04%, OWN NOT 50% OF THE WORLD, BUT 90%. Or so it seems to the little campsters behind the shrubs next to the overpass, who sometimes opt to steal a loaf of bread from the 7-11 just to get back on the prison grub train.

A question sometimes floats near the skum layer of the public consciousness, as to why we're not seeing worse inflation with all the faux currency being printed?

The answer is that the money is not being injected into the street economy. It has almost all been poured into the derivatives market, the stock market, and the real estate markets to keep commodity prices from falling because people aren't spending money on stuff, along with supporting stock and mortgage values.

But shhhhhh. . . . don't breathe a word about this to anyone because if people realize it, they will go get their savings out of the bank, liquidate their stocks, and pay off their mortgage debt.

 

[LogGrad98]

What do you mean? Our leaders are supposed to be representatives with a brain, not populist vote pullers. Leaders in a republic have to play the game. It's part of the job description. It sounds to me like you want a pure democracy where we vote for people who tell us exactly what they will do instead of telling us what we want to hear and then voting how they see best for the nation.

Exactly. But the vote component takes too much of their attention, (but I took this another direction, in terms of getting re-elected as opposed to just reporting the vote of their constituencies). I don't think many politicians are in touch with their constituencies any more than they need to be to know what to say to make sure they stay in office. Politics is too national now, with specials interests and lobbying groups rallying anyone and everyone around the 2 things that drive politics: money and getting re-elected.

I know that when I lived in Reno before (200-2005 time frame) we had a senator who helped push a minor bill through, something that didn't really even warrant much of a discussion. These happen all the time, and most people don't know and don't care. This bill however took away something like 5% of money earmarked for Nevada roads and planted that money in another state. Fine, if there is a trade off, and there was. The senator got a fat check from the special interest group that was pushing for it in the other state. Oh it came in terms of something like a BLM surpluss blah blah blah (can't remember the details, it was a small article in the RGJ). In short he took money Nevada needed, shuttled it to another state, and got a kick back for his trouble. It was a small amount and small potatoes really, but what ****? Is he being a representative with a brain? Not the way it is intended. And I think this kind of **** happens all the time. I think if a few of these guys had some personal integrity we would get less of this ****, and I think our finances as a country would be 1) far less complicated...it is easy to hide the kickbacks in 1500 page documents no one will read and 2) more under control. Even the big big issues like this that come into a national light, like the porkbarrell bridge in Alaska, get some cries of minor outrage, but really they get airtime as a reason not to vote for someone. So no one cares really that money is being misappropriated, something that affects all of us in one way or another, but rather that the misappropriation gets their favorite guy elected, or the guy they hate left out. That is why I said it was an idealistic statement. I expect an intelligent representative of the people with a brain, but also with the personal integrity and fortitude to tell us straight and then do the right thing for their constituents, and the country.

In short I would rather have a guy that expresses his opinion on a matter, say abortion or another hot-button topic, but is also listening to his constituency and using his "brain" to reconcile the two, and maybe he pushes for compromise, nothing hidden. Honest, open, up front, do the right thing even if he personally disagrees.

And you also have to remember that a representative is just that. He or she need to use their brain to stop from letting this become mob rule, but they have to be able to accurately and effectively represent their constituency otherwise we have swung the other way on the spectrum, to the end of the Dear Leader where people talk an the politicians just do what they know is "right" for the country regardless. And that is not a far throw from enforcing said policy to start shaping public opinion to reflect policy, instead of the other way around as it should be.

But like I said that is obviously idealized. We don't live in that world. But that's the world I want to live in. Isn't that the start, a gap analysis of sorts, to get us where we want to go in the long run?

 

[babe]

What do you mean? Our leaders are supposed to be representatives with a brain, not populist vote pullers. Leaders in a republic have to play the game. It's part of the job description. It sounds to me like you want a pure democracy where we vote for people who tell us exactly what they will do instead of telling us what we want to hear and then voting how they see best for the nation.

Not quite correct, bro. Demagogues are the ones with that job description, not representatives of an intelligent, articulate, and educated public, where people actually do matter because they are not easy to manipulate or abuse. We used to be a republic with just enough people who would take meaningful action to remove some particularly unserving elected officials, particularly on the local levels, but public education has sorta mesmerized too many of us into believing in the shadow reality of mass media fare that reinforces the public school mantras of what we have been told we should accept as "Life".

And of course, according to the system of definitions we are fed, anyone who doesn't like the way things are is a "conservative", or at least "right wing". Pretty Orwellian definitions, imb. To be a real progressive, you have to actually believe we need to change some things. To be a smart progressive, you need to disbelieve what you're being told. And insist on voting only for politicians who won't support the mesmerized establishment mentality.