Coward Nation?

Attorney General Eric Holder claims Americans are still in many respects cowards, when it comes to race relations.  Is Eric Holder so brave?  Has he commenced an investigation into the lies used to promote a war of aggression against Iraq?  An unjustified war is the greatest of war crimes.  While Holder is correct that many Americans have attitude problems, as Attorney General he could address something far more significant than an attitude, criminal actions.  He could also prosecute specific people, instead of lecturing a generic category of people, Americans.

Does Holder fear the possibility that a full investigation might vindicate George Bush’s decision to go to war?  Perhaps he’s concerned that some high ranking democrats would share culpability in the rush to invade Iraq under false pretenses.  Thousands are dead, tens of thousands have been wounded, and billions of dollars have been spent. History demands a verdict, and Bush’s departure from office creates the first real opportunity for a thorough investigation.

Rather than hide behind a general accusation of cowardice, I will charge Wisconsin’s Governor Jim Doyle with the crime of lacking a spine.  In early 2008, I wrote to Governor Jim Doyle and sent him my book, Essays of a Penitentiary Philosopher, which I also sent to a number of other politicians.  The book calls for the reform and depoliticization of our legal system.  On p. 16, I explained that, “The economics of this will be a weight that eventually pushes many states to adopt reforms.  The fact that some states will fall into a fiscal crisis before these reforms are made, shows just how little foresight politicians have.”  Then on p. 120, “The longer we procrastinate the more dire the consequences.”  And, “While it looks better for politicians to claim they were forced to release prisoners, leaders should deal with this problem while it is still manageable.”

As a result of the budget crisis, Doyle now wants to use a two-thirds formula, similar to what used to exist for all Wisconsin prisoners, for non-violent offenders.  Before Truth In Sentencing, TIS, that formula meant that if you behaved, you could earn one day of good time for every two days you stayed out of trouble.  Therefore the most you would do is two-thirds of your sentence, if you behaved.

It was humorous to hear the Governor and the Secretary of Corrections explain that prison guards liked it because it gave inmates an incentive to behave.  What a profound insight!  It took almost a decade to realize that if you reward good behavior, that would be an incentive for prisoners to behave?  Wasn’t human motivation the crucial element communism lacked, and therefore doomed it to failure?  Despite knowing what works, we have a policy that we know will fail, TIS.