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Democrats and the Justice System

We have a justice system of secular laws. If someone breaks the law, and there's clear documentary evidence, they should be indicted, tried, convicted, and sentence to time in prison if required. We are civilized society so we have the 8th Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment. Ideally, we want justice to be served because most people and family members of victims want revenge and we also want a deterrence against future crimes. All good up to this point.

However, there's a lot of money to be made and human beings involved in the process make mistakes. There have been many cases of people being falsely convicted of murder, sentence to death, executed, and then exonerated by additional evidence showing up after they have been executed! Plus, because of the privatization of the prison system, making money off the judicial system has proven to be a strong motivation and source of corruption in local, county, state, and federal government levels.

Most Democrats agree we should have oversight, limits, restrictions, and enforced regulations with the privatization of prisons. And even further, many Democrats have argued for certain activities of the society, it is better to remove the profit motive altogether.

Consider the following: "This week, U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order instructing the Department of Justice to not renew contracts with privately operated prisons – a process that had been started once before during the Obama administration but was reversed under President Donald Trump. Biden cited the inherent problem of private prisons having a commercial interest of keeping inmates incarcerated as a reason for his decision. In fact, research has shown that private prisons can increase incarceration rates and lengths by several factors including corruption, lobbying, increase of capacity and higher rates of violence in private prisons leading to penalties for inmates and later releases." Katharina Buchholz

"Private prisons make a profit – an estimated $374 million annually – giving them an incentive to cut costs more than public facilities. Private facilities have been shown to hire fewer staff and train them less. They also pay less, leading to higher turnover and less experienced and well-equipped officers. An analysis of 2014 data by the Department of Justice – the only of its kind – shows that violence and infractions in private prisons are elevated. The same analysis shows that private prisons spent 12 percent less per inmate, but since they are not housing maximum security prisoners, the savings might not actually translate. Several local studies have found mixed results for private prison cost savings. Researchers from the Universities of Minnesota and New Mexico have pointed out that the structural deficits of private prisons might increase incarceration costs in the long run by lengthening sentences and increasing recidivism." Katharina Buchholz

Katharina Buchholz: https://www.statista.com/chart/24058/private-prisons/#:~:text=Private%20prisons%20make%20a%20profit,experienced%20and%20well%2Dequipped%20officers

Over the last 50 years, the privatization of all government functions has been the rage. The argument has been government is always incapable of delivery quality service and privatization would do a much better job. I'm not convinced privatization is the answer. It seems to me the allowing the privatization of government services is just a way of creating monopolies and cartels that overcharge the government. This is because private companies have overhead from excessive executive compensation and the paying out of dividends to shareholders. Plus, corporations have a legal obligation to pay the least amount of wages in order to provide the best possible return to shareholders on equity. I'm not convinced the profit motive associated with privatization does not result it the exact opposite of the claim privatization is better than government. I think many times the monopolies and cartels delivery government services may have the worse possible service at the greatest possible cost. The privatization of the prison system may be the exact evidence supporting my suspicions. The problem of how to deliver good quality government services at a good cost is a science desperately needing more attention and research.

For Democrats, the death penalty has always been an issue of concern. As I stated, many times, people falsely convicted of murder are being put to death by the state. Also, the death penalty is really a cruel and unusual punishment no matter how you look at it.

Besides the moral argument against human error and cruel and unusual punishment, I think there's another argument to be made. A common theme and expression in Eastern religion is life is suffering. I tend to agree with this sentiment. The problem with execution is it stops people from living day to day suffering they would experience living in prison. So it seems to me life in prison is a much more severe punishment than the death penalty. I think the death penalty is the easy way out.

And the last thing I want to discuss about Democrats and the justice system is around the philosophy and religion of judgment, sin, penance, and absolution. I am a proud atheist and I have a brain. So I think about the topic of God from time to time. It seems to me a God of Judgment is a lesser God than a God of Love. And if we had a God of Love, then everyone, including people like Hitler, would make it through the gates of Heaven, stare into the face of God, and experience eternal heavenly bliss.

I am assuming a God of Love is an omnipotent God. An omnipotent God is perfect, whole, complete, and not lacking in any way. Since an omnipotent God has no needs or desires, then an omnipotent God would be the definition of absolute goodness. This is because, in my opinion, our human needs and desires are the source of all that is evil in the world. Humans have limitations. And limitations create needs and desires. Our needs and desires cause us to commit acts of evil. An omnipotent God would not suffer from having any limitations. So an omnipotent God would never act our of need or desire, and therefore, would be infinitely good.

What I have found is the idea of a God of Judgment is very popular. People really like the idea of eternal suffering. I think this is because people have hate in their hearts and want revenge. People take solace and satisfaction in the idea that people who have wronged against them or others will suffer for all eternity. The idea of eternal suffering may be very satisfying for people who have hate in their hearts, but because of my atheism, I would prefer to see our system of secular justice be the primary place where judgments are passed. I don't want to trust the idea something is going to happen in the afterlife. I prefer justice in this lifetime.

Also, the problem with a God of Judgment is why would a God of Judgment make any judgments at all in the first place? What need or desire is driving a God of Judgment? It's not like God is going to die if not enough people make into Heaven. And it's not like God is going to die if too many people end up in Hell. None of this makes any sense in my brain.

So for whatever reason, why a God of Judgment feels it is important to make judgments, it's still based on some need or desire. So I am arguing a God of Love is a stronger God or greater God than a God of Judgment. This is because a God of Love has no desires or limitations. So in my way of thinking, to be God-like, you would try not to have excessive needs and desires, and at the same time, try not judge other people because everyone has limitations.

As a Democrat, I think this view of having a God of Love would translate into the formation of public policy. I think a policy position should begin from a place of understanding. People with extreme needs under extreme pressures will commit crimes. As Democrats, I think we need to promote public policies that reduce the stresses and pressures people are having.

In other words, public policies around eliminating poverty should be a priority. Providing ways for people to get their needs met should be pursued. Obviously, we are not God so there will always be an endless amount of problems. But as a principal for defining public policy goals, eliminating the causes of crime will come from the eliminating the pressures coming from people having excessive needs.

The problems of our country are not rocket science

The problems of our country are not rocket science. The lobbyists entice or force the politicians to pass legislation creating cartels, monopolies, trade imbalances, and foreign subsidies in exchange for campaign financing. The people paying the lobbyists have representation in this government. The worker making the median wage has no representation.

Today, the cartels and monopolies gouge the consumer because there are no consequences from government. You would think the free market would wring-out all the inefficiencies of exorbitant CEO pay and prevent HUGE dividend payouts every year but this has not been the case for many years now. Back in the 70s, when I was growing up, honest hard work paid much better than crime. Today, crime pays way better than honest work. The real theft is our democracy has been stolen by the lobbyists. And on top of the gouging, data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, along with data analytics, is used by corporations to price fix wages. You are fooling yourself if you think Bureau of Labor Statistics exist for any other reason than to allow the price fixing of wages.

The net result of the cartels, monopolies, and price fixing of wages is the 1937 words of FDR spoken during the depression era ring more true today than when he spoke them:

"An old English judge once said: 'Necessitous men are not free men.' Liberty requires opportunity to make a living - a living decent according to the standard of the time, a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for. For too many of us the political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality. A small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other people's property, other people's money, other people's labor - other people's lives. For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness. Against economic tyranny such as this, the American citizen could appeal only to the organized power of government."

Take the Big Oil cartel for example. Back in the 70s Congress, and the power of government, would bring Big Oil CEOs in front of Congress to testify why they are having record profits and why they gouging the American people. The CEOs hated coming before Congress and openly said so. Right now, there's HUGE over supply of oil in the world but we have engineered scarcity. It's funny how for years there's always "refinery problems" which is the stated reason why gasoline always cost so much. But isn't also funny, or tragic, these same refineries are always working good enough to provide record profits to the Big Oil cartel? Maybe it's time to nationalize Big Oil. Unlike real private companies, it's not like Big Oil has to advertise to sell their products! Maybe it's also time to return back to FDR level taxes. But unlikely since the American consumer cannot compete with the lobbyists.

Lobbyists are used to create trade imbalances. The Chinese have pegged the Yuan to the dollar at a rate of 6 to 1. Most other currencies float against the dollar. So if a trade imbalance occurs, it naturally corrects itself. But not with the Yuan and not with China. The US could pay off its national debt and raise interest rates to 10% and the Yuan would still be pegged 6 to 1 against the dollar. The problem with China pegging the Yuan to the dollar is the dollar is a unit labor cost. A CEO gets 6 Chinese workers for every 1 American worker because of the Yuan being pegged. This is why NOTHING is manufactured in America anymore. If we still had factories here, they would be working 24 hours per day to filling demand until inflation returned back to normal. But instead, the Chinese government controls the worldwide supply chain. American is now a second class nation. We have engineered scarcity and no mechanism for correcting inflation with supply. This is why we need a calculated surcharge on every container coming into this country to adjust for the Chinese pegging the Yuan. The greater the trade imbalance the greater the tariff. Put a $1000 surcharge on every shipping container coming into this country having Chinese goods in until trade is balanced and our factories return. This policy will never happen because the lobbyists get representation over the American worker making the median wage. I've heard many politicians say, "Manufacturing and US factories are never coming back." As long as the Yuan is pegged to the dollar 6 to 1 this is certainly the case. I don't think anyone can qualify America as being a true super power at this point. Certainly, American is no longer a super power with regards to manufacturing.

Lobbyists are used to ensure a never ending flow of foreign subsidies. The US has 700+ foreign military bases and growing for why I don't know. Why does the US tax payer have to pay for this: "The American taxpayer has been generous to foreign countries. Between the years 2013 and 2018, nearly $300 billion in U.S. taxpayer money flowed as “aid” to countries outside the United States." Again, there are plenty places domestically $300 billion can be used to improve the lives of the American worker making the median wage. And again, the lobbyists get representation in our government. The American worker making the median wage does not!

The result of the American worker not having any representation in government has consequences. Every year the median worker's wage is being driven closer and closer to a poverty wage. Marx's criticisms about laissez faire capitalism have been shown to be true time and time again. Marx said laissez faire capitalism is always followed by communism. This is because as the government's fiat currency gets concentrated into fewer and fewer hands it becomes less valuable. It's only a matter of time before the government's currency collapses to nothing in value. When it does, as Marx predicts, the people standing in breadlines will demand MORE government not less. See you in the breadlines comrades!

The politicians and people of the this country are funny when it comes to communism. I can't count the times I've heard we have "too much" socialism and too much communism in this country. With communism, the worker owns the factory and means of production. Which do you think is more likely: The workers of McDonalds will have enough money to buy out the owner's of their places of employment, or, the median worker's wage of this country becomes a poverty wage? We are about as far away from communism as you can get and still have a fiat currency worth any shred of value at all! This is why January 6th happened and this why Trump is so popular. People are angry and dictatorship is inevitable as long as the lobbyists are in charge and the Yuan is pegged to the dollar 6 to 1.

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power." Benito Mussolini

The current GOP, Trump, and what it means to be a Democrat

I will begin with a criticism of today's GOP and I will end with what I think being a Democrat is all about.

Today's GOP is built on the idea STRONG leadership is what this country needs as it has been for at least 50 years. The idea of STRONG leadership has an intellectual basis in the GOP. The GOP rank and file are desperately looking for a STRONG daddy figure so they can worship him as if the person is God on Earth. It's almost like a cult. It's like the GOP authoritarians have been indoctrinated with a religion based on monarchy which advocates a single authority at the top with a bunch of obedient slaves at the bottom.

With Trump, the GOP seems to want to return to a King James type government. King James believed in the divine rights of kings and wrote about it in his book, "True Law of Free Monarchies." The divine right of kings claims: "In European Christianity, the divine right of kings, divine right, or God's mandation is a political and religious doctrine of political legitimacy of a monarchy. It stems from a specific metaphysical framework in which a monarch is, before birth, pre-ordained to inherit the crown. According to this theory of political legitimacy, the subjects of the crown have actively (and not merely passively) turned over the metaphysical selection of the king's soul – which will inhabit the body and rule them – to God. In this way, the "divine right" originates as a metaphysical act of humility and/or submission towards God. " The GOP doesn't believe in the rule-of-law. The GOP believes in the rule of STRONG leadership which is monarchy. The GOP wants STRONG leadership and obedience to authority above every other consideration!

Contrary to the idea of STRONG leadership, is what Democrats and Democratic leadership does. Democrats are more concerned with building a consensus, coming up with a public policy, voting, and the idea that each of us has something important to say. Democrats stand for equality, no one is above or below the law, voting, democracy, women's rights, and the fellowship that comes from considering everyone as being equals.

I just cannot accept the nature of today's GOP party. I cannot accept the way the GOP puts STRONG leadership and obedience before equality, no one is above or below the law, voting, democracy, women's rights, and the fellowship that comes from considering everyone as being equals. I'm done with the GOP. I will never accept monarchy over the rule of law. I just can't stand it.