You are right of course.
Most people posting here seem more aware of the impact of specific policies than I am, and therefore are more qualified to analyze the effects of something like the three strikes law. I tend to focus on root causes over specifics, yet I think it is safe to say that even before the three strikes law the U.S. had more people in prison than just about any other developed country.
There are many formal philosophies of the world, America can claim sole authorship of just one: pragmatism. Though not exactly the principle of inquiry and account (applied principally to science) C.S. Peirce had in mind when he coined the term, some thinkers have generalized pramatist philosophy for broader application as “what works.”
It is a supremely relevant, and profound, question. Everything we do is meant to “work” in some way. You can see too that whatever we try, how we’ve imagined it will work is contrasted with what actually occurs; that with what actually occurs, there is what occurs in the short term and locally, and what occurs over time and broadly; also with what occurs there is what degree we honestly acknowledge how well what worked and didn’t work; finally, and maybe most importantly, there is how much we sincerely want what truly works broadly and over time over versus how much we want to do what we want to do whether it or not really works.
As I said, the thing that tends to capture my attention is root causes, including the most fundamental basis of what works. It seems clear that which works best is what is most in harmony with, or corresponds to, the way reality actually is. So the task for someone wanting to develop a long term, broadly beneficial course of action must also understand the foundations of reality. I say “foundations” because courses of action based on that are on the most solid ground, whereas (as law making and politics are today) courses of action that are based on (and often merely a reaction to) superficial conditions are far more likely to work in some limited way but cause as many or more other problems.
Many of the medicines drug companies provide come to mind. Beating your wife to relieve pent up anger works a little too, but is devastating in other ways. Shooting heroin “works” in that it does make one feel very, very good, but down the road it injures a person and others, and has broad consequences to happiness.
So does imprisoning people in barbaric conditions and/or executing them work? It does get them off the street, it does eliminate some evil-doers from society . . . but the overall consequences of our prison system does not indicate it works precisely because, as I claim, we are dealing with superficial conditions and haven’t grasped either root causes of crime or foundational solutions.
The most important part of the fix is to keep people from prison in the first place; that is where America can’t admit we have shamefully failed to grasp which of our courses of action do not correspond to reality’s roots. Understanding the steps that have led us to believe we are doing what works when really we are ruining our country is not easy to see.
Yes America stands for freedom, a great and wonderful thing that has made many think all America stands for is perfect. America is relatively rich with a powerful military, and that too has made many think all we do is right. But another very significant force in our society encourages and trains people to be competitive over being cooperative, and also to base one’s self worth on wealth and status (and sadly, race is still a factor). The long term and broad consequences of these beliefs are the issue.
A TV series here on a news channel (CNBC I think) called “American Greed” profiles cases that epitomize the American selfish-interest value which is causing us so much harm in broader ways. Some actually say greed and selfish (i.e., versus enlightened) self-interest is good, that it is practical, and have become expert sophists at cherry picking facts while obscuring the broader/long term consequences. They preach to a poorly educated citizenry (growing evermore ignorant as education declines in the US) who understand little about root conditions or what history has shown works or what the rest of the world is proving works socially. These Americans who live in this little bubble of delusion reject or ignore any fact that gets in the way of their exalted view of the “American Way” also get to vote, and that is a HUGE problem for the more enlightened minority.
So what would work to keep people out of prison in the first place? Americans who believe in greed and competition above service to and cooperation with fellow humans have to admit it does not pragmatically work for a society. We have to recognize the plight of the poor cannot be solved without an education program that teaches students to believe in themselves, and teaches them how to learn (because many poor doubt themselves and have not been exposed to good learning habits before they get to school age). We need a very, very powerful program that sets up in inner city and other poverty areas which works with kids from grades perschool through 8 . . . full attention, full protection, the very highest standards of education, massive funds and education materials, the very best teachers, after school programs, tutoring, meals, medical care . . . i.e., teach them before and more powerfully than the neighborhood (and sometimes home life) influences which are competing for their minds and souls.
This investment is proven to work (such as demonstrated by the Freedom Writers Foundation, and there the repairs started relatively late at the high school level). It “works” to instill good learning skills and self confidence, it graduates educated students more likely to go on to higher education. That in turn means rather than selling drugs or joining gangs or taking frustration out on society, we have productive, contributing citizens; we produce creators, builders, and caregivers instead of non-productive, destructive, self-absorbed or apathetic citizens who do nothing but cost us a fortune to police, institutionalize, and insure against.
Will the selfish greedy me-first Americans wake up to see, before our culture comes crashing down, that we must, through good efficient government investment/private donations, set up that which lifts all citizens up to productivity? I still have hopes, yet . . .
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