[ "It is hard to adequately condemn the American system of incarceration. It is applied so unfair, so draconian, so unjust, and applied so ubiquitously as to be literally beyond the understanding of civilized persons. Our descendents will look back with horror at the barbarity of the American prison system and its high-tech dungeons ".]
This is from a book review of distinguished American psychiatrist Karl Menninger 's " The Crime of Punishment ".
Just last night I was mesmerized by pages of Karl Menninger's 1973 book : " Whatever Happened to Sin " . He writes also about " collective sin " , " social sin " - and ends up by agreeing that capitalist " private property " is the root of much social evil. Then he seems to share Sigmund Freud's pessimism in dealing with it.
But where are such wise voices today ? ( Just around 1973 a dear working class friend of mine made his now famous ( for me ) prediction of " long period of rot " in capitalist America . He died of heart attack at age 39. His name was Ed Maguire ( born in Providence ) . I miss this buddy.
Comments that are courteous, concise and relevant are always welcome, whether or not they agree with the views expressed here or not. Profanity is not necessary. Thank you for reading “Time Enough At Last!”