Jim Graham says: Linda Berglin is one of the most prominent LIBERAL politicians in the State of Minnesota. Linda has told me that she feels we need to put more of the criminal predators in prison, and if necessary keep them there. She said it is cheaper in taxpayer dollars to do so. Even if you do not consider the collateral human suffering they cause, and the collateral blight and property loss they cause.
Peter Schmitz responds: After hearing how Linda Berglin, according to Britt Robson, was the only DFLer to stand up to Tim Pawlenty's budget cuts, I felt a little guilty for my diatribe against her, which I commenced on this list a few months ago when her anti graffiti bill passed (a bill that penalizes parents of juvenile taggers for twice the cost of actual damages). But now that I've read Jim's posting my remorse has passed. But instead of feeling angry, I feel terribly sad and worried. If our state's most prominent LIBERAL is saying that more incarceration is the answer, then she's either terribly uninformed about crime (refer to Russell Racczkiwski post this evening) or making another desperate attempt to broaden her base of support by pandering to law and order fanatics (like so many other pathetic "new democrats"). Now don't get me wrong. Citizens of Minneapolis, especially in the city's poorest neighborhoods, have every reason to be angry and concerned about crime. But it's not going to get better for them, or anyone else for that matter (except those getting rich off the prison industry), until we address the root causes of crime, both locally, statewide and nationally. Consider a few root causes for crime in Minneapolis: (1) the war on drugs; (2) the criminalization of prostitution; (3) the gowning gap between the rich and the poor; (4) a faltering economy; and (5) a misguided and corrupt economic system (i.e., consumer capitalism) that results in the exploitation of human beings, environmental degradation; and the necessity for attacking other countries that pose no threat to our nation's security. Face it folks, the prosperity we enjoyed in the late 90's, if we can call it prosperity, was actually our fragile economy being pumped up with the equivalent of steroids. While we may have enjoyed some of the benefits that go along with economic upswings (i.e., a reduction in unemployment and crime), we also experienced unprecedented airplane noise, affordable housing shortages and massive government handouts to corporations like TARGET. The very three things that brought down the regime of Sharon Sayles Belton, Jackie Cherryhomes and Joan Campbell , despite gallant attempts by the Star Tribune and one of its most aggressive reporters to stop this changing of the guard. But as we soon learned in Minneapolis, the new guard turned out no better than the old guard. And given a little more time it may even turn out to be much worse. All because our elected officials, local, state and national from the Democratic, Republican and Green parties are unable or unwilling to stop the machine of corporate capitalism. And now more than ever, decent folks living in the poorest parts of Minneapolis must bear witness to the murders of their family and friends, along with the continuing decline of their neighborhoods. The Republican Party's solutions: More tax cuts. The DFL party's solution: Bigger freeways, longer prison sentences (except for white collar criminals who are mostly white and rich) and acting more like Republicans. The Green Party's Solution: More potlucks. Senator Berglin can bellow all she wants about law and order while posturing as a liberal (the way Bill Clinton and George W. Bush pretend to be Christians), but her silence regarding root causes of violence against poor people is a rather criminal, to say the least.----------------Peter Schmitz CARAG TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
