Crime and Punishment: An in Depth Look at the Modern American Crisis
October 26th 2009 12:26
From the beginning of time, every great civilization created from the embers of human ingenuity functioned through a set of rules. Rules that determined what people were allowed to put in their bodies, how people lived and how best to keep citizens from undue harm.
As civilizations grew, these rules created from religious dogma and social culture eventually evolved into laws. Laws that gave man the ultimate power over life and death as opposed to saying the power was derived from a religious entity or higher power.
While some societies still maintain the theory of having religion as law, our forefathers made it a point to create a separation between church and state. A separation that sets the tone of every legal argument but still shines through in the beginning, middle and end of every discussion of how our modern system of laws were created.
In the ever evolving process of crime and punishment laws have been made and extracted leaving a set of societal victims and opportunists at every turn. For every time a societal problem arises around a social ill, the cry from the victims and the family of the victims is to do something to fix it.
Without rationality or impunity executive orders are passed down, laws are shoveled through legislatures and witch hunts begin. Witch hunts that are conceptualized to cut these things off at their knees by tackling the suppliers, offenders and miscreants but always end with a type of discrimination that creates a great divide between the haves and have nots.
The haves who can afford to sit on a perch away from the watchful eye of Johnny law or have the finance to take advantage of the right to top notch legal counsel while the members of society on the other side of the fence are victims of a system that focuses on small victories instead of looking deeper into the problem.
The problem of a national squeeze on drunk driving that doesn’t look into the issue of building up a stronger public transportation structure.
The problem of an international War on Drugs that considers a sickening boom in the prison population from users and small time pushers a success in combating the issue while drug lords and gangs grow strength.
There are problems on the streets of America that are a direct result of the way we look at Crime and Punishment in this country. A look that is rooted in simplicity when the overall problem is complex and growing out of control…
Complexities that haven’t allowed our government officials to put together far reaching strategies into combating the underage drinking problem or the deaths that continue every night of the week because of the decisions made by a drunk driver.
Instead of viewing the problem for what it is, radical offensives to try and “fix” the issue are created. Radical offensives in the form of ridiculous laws that blame age old societal problems on alcohol, maturity or an illness of the mind.
The same strategy that lead to prohibition and the formation of many of the modern crime syndicates that still exist to this very day.
If the War on Drugs is any indication of the things that happen when bold strategies are reduced to proving the worth of an offensives existence, there are still more dark days to come in our societal relationship with alcohol and drugs.
A rocky relationship that continues to bring us around in a circle to the original argument of protecting the people from undue harm while still honoring the tenants set forth by our forefathers in the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Tenants that are rooted in the belief that all men and women are created equal and have the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty.
When bold initiatives are passed to eradicate a situation that is killing American citizens and doesn’t reach its target the end result will always be the same.
Panic and expediency will become the rulers of the day with the argument of obeying the law without questioning its merit as the only mode of conversation. Discussion that should elevate the mood of a nation into looking at how our society has taken its eye off the ball.
The ball that should look to help the addicted while taking down drug empires that are getting fat off of other people’s misery.
The ball that should look at the socio economic aspect of the issue in how the impoverished are grasping onto the same opportunities as so many before when government makes the decision to outlaw easily accessible commodities.
The ball that is only getting bigger when societal problems arise and decisions are made to go to war over issues regardless of the social divide that it will cause an even greater distance between the actual result and the original objective.
Some may say that the easiest way to win the War on Wrugs would be to legalize and tax the products while others might argue that this would only encourage addiction which would set us back as a society instead of moving us forward.
When we examine the entire situation, a fact is simply a fact without consideration of anything less or anything more.
Our problem is not with alcohol itself nor is it with prescription, hard or soft drugs.
The fact that one is legal and one is not does not change the pain in the hearts of victims and families who have lost loved ones and it does not change the situation on the streets of America.
The problem is addictive substances and how we best deal with creating a system to protect the people from undue harm while also maintaining their rights.
Until we can have an open and honest conversation about these things there will never be a War on Drugs or War against the Social Ills that come with alcohol that will ever be effective in reaching the mark.
To get more of the story join me on my Social Networking Sites and Facebook Fan Page by following the links below...
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As civilizations grew, these rules created from religious dogma and social culture eventually evolved into laws. Laws that gave man the ultimate power over life and death as opposed to saying the power was derived from a religious entity or higher power.
While some societies still maintain the theory of having religion as law, our forefathers made it a point to create a separation between church and state. A separation that sets the tone of every legal argument but still shines through in the beginning, middle and end of every discussion of how our modern system of laws were created.
In the ever evolving process of crime and punishment laws have been made and extracted leaving a set of societal victims and opportunists at every turn. For every time a societal problem arises around a social ill, the cry from the victims and the family of the victims is to do something to fix it.
Without rationality or impunity executive orders are passed down, laws are shoveled through legislatures and witch hunts begin. Witch hunts that are conceptualized to cut these things off at their knees by tackling the suppliers, offenders and miscreants but always end with a type of discrimination that creates a great divide between the haves and have nots.
The haves who can afford to sit on a perch away from the watchful eye of Johnny law or have the finance to take advantage of the right to top notch legal counsel while the members of society on the other side of the fence are victims of a system that focuses on small victories instead of looking deeper into the problem.
The problem of a national squeeze on drunk driving that doesn’t look into the issue of building up a stronger public transportation structure.
The problem of an international War on Drugs that considers a sickening boom in the prison population from users and small time pushers a success in combating the issue while drug lords and gangs grow strength.
There are problems on the streets of America that are a direct result of the way we look at Crime and Punishment in this country. A look that is rooted in simplicity when the overall problem is complex and growing out of control…
Complexities that haven’t allowed our government officials to put together far reaching strategies into combating the underage drinking problem or the deaths that continue every night of the week because of the decisions made by a drunk driver.
Instead of viewing the problem for what it is, radical offensives to try and “fix” the issue are created. Radical offensives in the form of ridiculous laws that blame age old societal problems on alcohol, maturity or an illness of the mind.
The same strategy that lead to prohibition and the formation of many of the modern crime syndicates that still exist to this very day.
If the War on Drugs is any indication of the things that happen when bold strategies are reduced to proving the worth of an offensives existence, there are still more dark days to come in our societal relationship with alcohol and drugs.
A rocky relationship that continues to bring us around in a circle to the original argument of protecting the people from undue harm while still honoring the tenants set forth by our forefathers in the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Tenants that are rooted in the belief that all men and women are created equal and have the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty.
When bold initiatives are passed to eradicate a situation that is killing American citizens and doesn’t reach its target the end result will always be the same.
Panic and expediency will become the rulers of the day with the argument of obeying the law without questioning its merit as the only mode of conversation. Discussion that should elevate the mood of a nation into looking at how our society has taken its eye off the ball.
The ball that should look to help the addicted while taking down drug empires that are getting fat off of other people’s misery.
The ball that should look at the socio economic aspect of the issue in how the impoverished are grasping onto the same opportunities as so many before when government makes the decision to outlaw easily accessible commodities.
The ball that is only getting bigger when societal problems arise and decisions are made to go to war over issues regardless of the social divide that it will cause an even greater distance between the actual result and the original objective.
Some may say that the easiest way to win the War on Wrugs would be to legalize and tax the products while others might argue that this would only encourage addiction which would set us back as a society instead of moving us forward.
When we examine the entire situation, a fact is simply a fact without consideration of anything less or anything more.
Our problem is not with alcohol itself nor is it with prescription, hard or soft drugs.
The fact that one is legal and one is not does not change the pain in the hearts of victims and families who have lost loved ones and it does not change the situation on the streets of America.
The problem is addictive substances and how we best deal with creating a system to protect the people from undue harm while also maintaining their rights.
Until we can have an open and honest conversation about these things there will never be a War on Drugs or War against the Social Ills that come with alcohol that will ever be effective in reaching the mark.
To get more of the story join me on my Social Networking Sites and Facebook Fan Page by following the links below...
Facebook Fan Page
Click here
Friend me on Facebook
Click here
Friend me on Myspace
Click here
Follow Me on Twitter
Click Here
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