Stage Seven

One thing that's always stuck out to me about Texas was their philosophy of strict punishment. We have the second highest incarceration rate of the country. I think that of all of Texas' miserable statistics, this is the most shameful. Time and time again, study after study, all evidence in regards to the success of harsh punishment as a deterrent shows that it causes more problems than it solves. Often I read articles about prison systems in various countries, particularly in Europe, and I find a depressing number of comments laughing at their compassionate approach. They point to the lifestyles that prisoners hold and they cannot accept what they perceive as a lack of justice. I would agree that it is not ideal for prisoners to be treated like royalty, but being able to discern justice from vengeance is vital for a more enlightened opinion. More important than the leniency of prisoners' punishment are the raw numbers; these prisons have a lower rate of recidivism than ours. This seems contrary to logic, so it is understandable that the first reaction of many people is to laugh. However, I believe people have a responsibility to do the research before forming an opinion, especially when it comes to matters as deadly as incarceration.

Yes, deadly. People don't realize that a prison sentence is often a death sentence. Take nonviolent drug offenders, for instance. Most them are in prison for marijuana alone. Is this offense bad enough to warrant an unacceptably high chance of prison rape? This, by the way, is another matter that utterly disgusts me; even more disgusting, however, is the prevalent attitude that prison rape is laughable. How many times have you heard jokes about "pound me in the ass" prison? But the truth is that people die from AIDS after they are raped in prison. No one deserves this.

Stage Four

The Lonestar Times' SB-1028: Buckle Up! Or Else! entry is somewhat naive, in my opinion. They opine that Senator Kirk Watson's bill to make it mandatory for an adult in the back seat to wear a seat buckle is just another example of the expansion of government into private lives. I'm all for small government, myself, but this is really a matter of consistency. Because of the existence of health care and insurance, it is only logical that we require all safety measures reasonably enforceable. After all, if we are potentially paying for someone's hospital bill, it is not fair to us, the taxpayers, for that hospital bill to be increased by neglect of something so simple as buckling up. 

As a right-leaning blog, their intended audience of fellow right-wingers might argue that this is justification for not having mandatory insurance or health care. I disagree; to me, matters of public health supersede individual rights in cases such as this.

The Lonestar Times also implies that this is not the best time to be using resources on such trivial matters, and I must agree with that. However, their sarcastic tone ("this incredibly important, life saving, URGENT bill") I find a little misplaced, as the whole point of making adults buckle up is exactly that--to save lives (although the cynic in me finds their next statement, an implication that the true purpose of the bill is to create an additional source of revenue for the senators, entirely plausible).