Posted on 08/23/2006 7:21:50 PM PDT by Gordongekko909
The general mindset of the political left is similar from country to country and even from century to century.
The softness toward dangerous criminals found in such 18th century writers as William Godwin and Condorcet has its echo today among those who hold protest vigils at the executions of murderers and who complain that we are not being nice enough to the cutthroats imprisoned at Guantanamo.
The specific issues change from place to place and from time to time but the mindset remains remarkably similar. What is also different from country to country and from one era to another is the amount of resistance encountered by the left, which determines how far they can go in practice.
The United States has always been more resistant to the left than most European countries have been. Often we can see where the American left is headed by seeing where the European left has arrived.
A new book on crime in Britain shows what happens when the mindset of the left prevails throughout the criminal justice system. That book is titled "A Land Fit for Criminals" by David Fraser.
Within living memory, Britain was one of the most law-abiding nations on the face of the earth. When Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew visited London right after World War II, he was so impressed with the honesty of the British and their respect for law and order that he returned home determined to make Singapore the same way.
Today it is Singapore that is one of the most law-abiding nations in the world while Britain's crime rate has risen to the point where, for the first time, it now exceeds the crime rate in the United States.
What happened in the intervening years was the rise of the British left's dogmas about crime to complete domination of the country's legal system and its political and media elites.
Today, a burglar caught in the act by the police in Britain is almost certain to get a warning. If he has previous burglary convictions, he may get a sterner warning. But he is unlikely to face anything so draconian as being put behind bars.
Burglary has been described as a "minor" offense by leaders of both the Conservative and Labor parties in Britain. Rare cases where burglars are put in prison are criticized by the media.
The left's ideology on crime, including their disdain for property crimes, has spread across the political spectrum to all who wish to be considered up to date. That ideology is essentially the same on both sides of the Atlantic but in Britain it has achieved far greater unchallenged dominance.
Among the dogmas of the left is that putting people in prison fails to reduce crime and that the social "root causes" of crime must be dealt with to prevent it beforehand and that "rehabilitation" through various programs "in the community" are more effective than locking up criminals.
None of this is new and the rationales for it go back at least two centuries. What is remarkable is how mountains of hard evidence to the contrary have been ignored, evaded, or simply lied about, on both sides of the Atlantic.
David Fraser's book "A Land Fit for Criminals" examines that evidence at length and exposes the fraudulence of the claims used to try to justify continuing to be lenient to criminals as crime rates have soared in Britain.
There are similar mountains of evidence against the left's crime dogmas in the United States and this evidence is similarly ignored, evaded or lied about by those on the left. It is just that the left faces stronger opposition here so that it has not achieved the pervasive dominance that it has in Britain -- yet.
In both countries, ideologues have the support of "practical" politicians and bureaucrats who simply do not want to spend the money needed to build and maintain enough prisons to put career criminals away for many years.
Those weighing costs and benefits define "costs" as government expenditures. But the costs paid by the public, just in economic terms, vastly exceed the cost of more prisons. But that does not count for either the ideologues or the "practical" politicians and criminal justice bureaucrats.
its 'whit', not 'wit'...
Actually, some Europeans I've met think that the Left is stronger on this side of the Atlantis continent. The thought I've frequently encountered in various European essays is that the only Marxists left in the world are at American universities. Go figure.
Soul bump
Could it be that freedom has allowed enough small-scale experiments in socialism to give people here an instinctive understanding of the limits of socialism?And that in Europe they just didn't experiment as much, but when they did they go whole hog - as in the French Revolution.
I want on the Thomas Sowell ping list. One thing I've noticed about black conservatives is that they tend to be particularly and refreshingly original thinkers.
If they quit putting away potheads for many years, they'd have a lot more room for the career criminals.
Could it be our own sort of "welfare" in bailing them out (WW1 WW2 Cold War) three times in the last 100 years?
The big delusion is believing that you can reform the criminals. It involves the pride of believing that science can correct man's social problems and that criminals are victim that can be rehabilitated through various social agencies. The problem is 1) forget about artifically injecting them with self esteem. Criminals don't suffer from low esteem -- in fact just the opposite. Low esteem has nothing to do with crime. 2) the heath care system has a vested interest in keeping criminals in victim status -- it furthers their livelihood. 3) the criminals know how to use the jargon of victim hood to their advantage without believing in it. For example, when criminals commit violent crimes it's because they can't help themselves due to their violent and traumatic past, but if a police officer struck them they won't use the same explanation for the officer. They'd say, "The bastard!" In other words, their violence is born out of victim hood whereas other violence directed toward them was willful -- liberalism offers criminals no responsibilities for their own behavior.
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w00t, thanks!
Thomas Sowell writes with a scalpel.
Well, their demographics have changed, too.
Speaking as one of your neighbours to the north, you are right on a cultural level. Just remember, however, that the malady is liberalism wherever it breeds. We just lack the voices of Rush Limbaugh and Thomas Sowell. Even our "conservative" talk show hosts are fine on same sex marriage and abortion on demand.
Speaking of which, why is it that liberals believe that wars can end and criminals can stop what they do through understanding (and therapy), but can't comprehend how a woman could ever manage without killing her unborn child. Can someone explain that moral conundrum.
Please add me to the Thomas Sowell ping list.
Thanks in advance.
Thomas Sowell for President! Or how about Senator from California. That would be sweet. How about Supreme Court justice. Your choice, Dr. Sowell. Please!
Didn't read it yet but looks like it might be one for you.
The whole problem with the Left's approach to crime (street and international) is that it has misplaced compassion. They are constantly feeling sorry for the wrong people - and finding excuse after excuse for them. They pay little or no attention to the true victims, and what little attention they pay is usually negative in nature - like condemning someone or some nation for defending them- or itself against aggression.
In the Talmud there is a section called "Wisdom of the Fathers" and within it is a saying that is directly on point: "Kindness to the cruel is cruelty to the kind." Releasing convicted violent offenders, or letting meglomaniacal dictators get away with all manner of crimes and aggression are actions that, while they may seem kind or compassionate on their surface, actually cause far more harm down the road than being tough on the offender in the first place.
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That, and they've got to appease their voter base.
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