Prison Nation

Can we honestly say we are a civilized society if we incarcerate our fellow man for a profit, taking advantage of misery and weakness is a predatory act unforgivable in a modern age.  

I want to begin this by saying that I fully support the old adage, "Do the crime, Do the time" and I believe for a true crime committed one should face a penalty with the ability for rehabilitation.  But in this society corporatism focuses on recidivism for profit.  To put it simply, rehabilitation is not in the best interests of a profit driven enterprise.  The more people they can warehouse the greater the profits.  This have become a problem all to familiar in our society where greed and the quest for power has led to the trampling of those who are in the most need of protection.  

We are told the prison system in a necessary evil keeping the law abiding citizens safe from the denizens of society.  This is untrue for we have become a nation of debtors prisons and extreme penalties for misdemeanor offences.  We have taken those suffering from health issues and punished them for their illnesses and we have no taken addiction as a crime instead of an opportunity to help.  I understand there are those that cross the line and need to be incarcerated for the safety of society as a whole but when we use the power to take someones liberties and freedom of movement as a time out for unsatisfactory behavior for not following the bureaucratic policies of a profit motivated system then we are allowing tyranny to sow it seeds in our nation.

I have heard the conspiracy theories time and time again of what this nation will become, but I must ask you.  Is this nation not already worse in some aspects than the worst predictions of our less rational brothers and sisters?  We have become a nation of too big to fail and too big to jail.  We have become a nation where outright murder by officials is blamed on the victim, where the poor are imprisoned for simply being poor.  I think we all have our head in the sands as to the true goings on of this nation and have become apathetic in our responses to the creeping tyranny of those in power.  If you give them an inch they will always try and take another and another seeing how much the people will allow them to get away with.  This is the action of every government in history and only when the people or a more powerful nation have had enough is that power quelled.

We no I ask.  Should we not be quelling the power of an overbearing and overtly tyrannical system?  We can not blame this society on any individual but on the entire country as a whole.  We like to be able to blame the puppets for the action of their corporate masters but when the true political system is in the amount of money you have to throw around then the voices of the people, the true citizens of a nation are silenced.

We can no longer afford ourselves apathy my friends.  As Emerson would say.  "Stand upright and speak the rude truth in all ways."  So now I speak the rude truth.  Greed and fear rule this society.  The true seat of power in a nation is with the masses yet we have surrendered our true power out of fear for some faceless evil we have allowed to invade our consciousness.  Terrorism is a threat I agree, but there are far bigger threats to a nation when the citizens willingly give away their freedoms to feel more secure in their homes.  Never rely on other to protect yourself.

The prison system is a true reflection of where society is headed for how we treat the lowliest of our population is a testament of who we as a society truly are.  Are we a society of excess and waste? Or are we a society of rehabilitation and compassion?

I see such a great future for our species if we can defeat our greatest enemies as a society.

GREED, APATHY, FEAR, WASTE.

These are but a few of the enemies that haunt us, I am sure there are many more but I wanted to call focus to these specific things.  They all go together to influence a nation.  We vote everyday weather we know it or not for the nation we want to  live in.  By the smallest action to the biggest events we vote our consent or protest and those with power over us will always find ways to take advantage of our weakness unless we recognize what is happening and quell that power.