Reply #49: Voters/taxpayers don't give a damn about this until it affects them personally. [View All]

[Divernan]

I worked with any constituent I was assigned to help - which included many conservatives. There were several instances where individuals called to scream about laws and proposed legislation that helped people out - lots of rhetoric about keeping government out of people's lives, and everyone should just take care of themselves. Then, surprise, surprise, disaster struck THEM and their families. They got laid off, or their pension plans were cancelled, or they found out their super-duper health insurance had a lifetime limit and their kid's severe,chronic illness had just used up the last of it. Then they called back and hysterically demanded that new programs be voted into place, RETROACTIVELY, to address their needs.

And frankly, middle class people are not driven to crime in nearly the proportion as are the poor and uneducated. What kind of crime do you think middle class people would be charged with? The one crime I've seen a few get nailed with has been DUI, with the RARE manslaughter result. It's maybe
a $1,000 for private representation for a basic DUI. Middle class people can easily afford that.
And frankly, I'd much rather my tax dollars went for birth control programs, pre-natal nutrition programs, pre-school programs, subsidized child care for poor working parents, and keeping the tuition costs down at state schools, than in representing some alcoholic. And speaking of drunks, the experience in the criminal court system is that there is nothing short of incarceration to keep drunks from driving to their local bars/liquor stores. You can take away their drivers' licenses but that doesn't stop them from driving.