Jail

I welcome the reform of the mandatory sentencing rules because they are totally unjust. I’m more agnostic about the stop and frisk issue. I do notice that the Baroque phase of the cycle of liberalism does tend to focus on identity politics and crime and punishment, things that do not unite the 99%.

This isn’t to say I’m in the “freedumb to say n—” or lock ’em up and throw away the key crowd, just that I think emphasizing these issues at the wrong time is both counterproductive for the entire liberal agenda and indeed for these issues themselves.

The crime issue is tough because it’s so low now. You don’t want to mess with it. But the same goes when it’s high—how can you be more liberal with crime and punishment when crime is high? So, there’s always an argument why it’s a bad time.

We are living in a world of crazy counter reaction. Just look at what is going on with voting and abortion laws this very minute. Worrying about the blowback is not concern trolling on stuff like this. It’s very conceivable that some states will enact longer sentencing as a reaction to this.

The way to destroy that reaction’s ability to act is to fix income inequality. Everything else is taking your eye off the ball. If you’re in government, fine. But we’re talking about the commentariat.