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The Think Tank
Opinions and ideas from our members: I think we must first of all make our representatives and officials more accessible, and more importantly, more receptive to the voters wishes. Except for mass-mailing questionaires, I find it very difficult to contact them directly, much less tell them what I think without getting back a message that has no relation to what I said to them. I'm sure the replies I do get are done by staff people who merely sort, read quickly and reply to the mail, with no thought of doing the right thing for the voter they owe their jobs to. I'm 69 years old, and am disgusted with our judicial system. But the criminal justice system is only carrying out the letter of the law, which is put in place by our elected officials. I have one grandson who is a police officer and another who has 14 more years to serve in prison for possession of a controlled substance. He had just turned 21 and the drugs were in his car. A "friend" had requested a ride. No matter, he must pay the price now that we have tougher drug laws. He was going to get training to become a police officer like his brother, but there goes another life wasted. Our government must be held accountable. .... M.S., Miami, Florida M.A.C.C. responds to the above letter: Well, allow us to retort. As we see it, several of your points are valid, however we must take issue with one particular point... "only carrying out the letter of the law, which is put in place by our elected officials" reeks of the same stench the Nazi SS and Death Squads gave as their excuse... "we were only following orders". It is no less corrupt to enforce unjust laws than it is to enact them and for our courts and law enforcement agencies to become Nazified proxies is simply inexcusable. Invariably, these "drug war" laws have been "put in place" by legislators receiving campaign donations from those with a vested interest in prison profits. Whether Prison Corporations (McPrison meatgrinders) or Prison Industry (where prisoners work/slave for 60 cents per hour under the gloating eye of industrial exploiters). Is there no end to this horror? Apparently not as long as there's a buck to be made from it and every leech and their blood-sucking coherts keep emerging from under the rocks. California, origin of the wickedly Draconian "three strikes law", is one nefarious example. An investigation by the Los Angeles Times revealed blatant corruption by its legislators who received campaign donations from wealthy landowners who wished to be divested of 5,000 acres of toxic land. And divested they were, to the tune of $3,500 per toxic acre. California purchased those 5,000 acres at an incredibly inflated price even though they were originally bought for $374 an acre. A cost to the taxpayers of almost 10 times their worth. California then paid $3 million more tax dollars to clean it up before a prison could be built on it! The "three strikes" law was passed to create a steady supply of manpower to fill the prison and justify the land purchase, not the other way around as they led taxpayers to believe. This "put 'em away for life" law, spawned from demonic loins and co-authored by a legislator who took campaign donations from the landowner has been an abomination onto the law of this land. As if all this weren't apalling enough at the legislative level, we have courts and officers scrambling after arrests and convictions and being rewarded with raises and promotions. They've got prisons to fill! Current policy prods them to conduct stings (entrapment) where the law isn't broken fast enough for 'em! And to set up checkpoints in paramilitary/Gestapo fashion to ensnare citizens in towns/cities/highways/byways. Daylong checkpoints denying a couple thousand citizens their civil rights are now common. Home raids are popular with law enforcer/property speculators as well. Petty amounts of cannabis and crack crumbs are sufficient cause for a raid and monies kept at home is assumed to be drug money and confiscated. Low level drug dealers are "allowed" to deal freely until they amass a sufficient amount of property and assets to warrant confiscation. Property and assets seized are used to further fuel the "drug war" against the people. These confiscations are suggestive of centurians gambling for Jesus' robe with more and more of our constitutional rights being hung on the cross in the name of this Godforsaken drug war! And we are paying for it. Forced to dig our own graves and that of the Country. Neo Rightists are patting themselves on the backs. Crime pays! For them. More letters--- How about we fix it so a politician has to go before a psychiatric board in order to be okayed for nomination to the office he or she is seeking? This would help weed out some of the idiots who are waging this misdirected drug war. .... A.H., Dayton Ohio I think that the very best idea is for people to get together as a group to change our laws by majority rule. Your organization is one of a few that are trying to do just that. It's quite plain that individuals (except powerful ones) cannot influence the people who represent us. Even in a democracy such as ours, a voice must be a chorus to be heard. .... D. Mallory, Philadelphia PA
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