Time Enough at Last: And our vicious prison system , called all over the world the " American Gulag " , just turns so many young delinquents into career criminals.

Thursday, April 14, 2022

And our vicious prison system , called all over the world the " American Gulag " , just turns so many young delinquents into career criminals.

If I  understood  New York mayor Eric Adams this morning , he was scolding the Black Lives Matter organization for not focusing attention on dysfunctional Black families, negligent fathers and mothers  losing control , not taking responsible for their children.
                Of course,  every SANE individual -whatever his or her politics - must take individual responsibility seriously - whatever the truth of metaphysical FREE WILL. 
                       But as a democratic socialist I must  oppose  the " cop mentality " inclination  to blame the individual while ignoring THE SYSTEM that mass  produces dysfunctional families because it cruelly ruins poor working class families.  FOR PROFIT capitalism creates a black hole for millions of Black people -and millions of working class White people - struggling with hopeless economic oppression. 
                  And our vicious prison system  , called all over the world  the " American Gulag " ,  just turns so many young delinquents into career criminals.
                   Also,  the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill -which began as a " liberal " , " progressive " BRIGHT IDEA in the early 1960s - has been a colossal failure bordering on a crime against humanity.    Probably as much as five or six  percent of the population are so severely mentally disturbed as to require prolonged stays in a sheltered  " institutional " environment - away from the chaos of the every day " struggle for existence "  in the cruel and chaotic BIG CITY USA .
                            Every day in downtown Kennedy Plaza , Providence, Rhode Island , I encounter very disturbed , shamefully ignored and neglected mentally ill individuals . Can you be surprised if you sense smoldering anger in them ?