Locking People Up

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA has a national system of incarceration camps which,if it continues to grow at its present impressive rate, will one day rival NAZI Germany or Stalinist Russia. It already makes contemporary China seem like a paragon of libertarian social values. Give credit where credit is ude; our assassination of socialist dictators close to home needs work, but when it comes to spying, killing foreign civilians, and locking up its own citizens, we Americans are second to none. Of the two million locked up Americans, at least half are guilty of non violent crimes, mostly dealing drugs. People who could be members of the Chamber of Commerce wasted their business acumen in the wrong business. American justice even managed to imprison Martha Stewart, and that is an impressive feat of legalized kidnapping. Someone remarked that Martha probably had the most tastefully decorated jail cell in the history of incarceration. Most of the non violent offenders, and nearly all of the drug dealers, are black. Comparing arrest records on a racial basis for any category of crime, and the black convicts always get harsher sentences. They go to prison when upper middle class white crinimals get short sentences, or probation. The racism inherent in the American system of justice is absolutely undeniable. If everyone in state or federal prison convicted of a nonviolent, white collar crime were released, the American people would save billions od dollars annually, and the newly released freed people would provided an instant boost to the economy, if for no other reaosn than no longer being a burden upon it. And besides, The current crop of recreational drug dealers could use a little more competition. Even with tens of millions of domestic customers, prices are a bit high.