Re: madeleine, We are the enemy

"Bruce Reilly (a.k.a Bruha)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Dear Judges, Lawyers, Policemen, Guards, Counselors, Taxpayers, et. al.,
>
> We are here.  Like it or not, for good or bad, we are here.  Who are we?
We are the
> downtrodden and dispossesed, the self-torturing, the disenfranchised
convicts,
> drug and alcohol addicts, the unemployed and unemployable.  We are the
children of
> poverty, financial and spiritual.  We have and will have children of our
own,
> grandchildren too.  We are ex-cons, uninsured, homeless, of many colors
and speaking
> many tongues.  We are the enemy in what has become a domestic war against
ourselves.
>
> And who are you?  You who like the tough talk of Tough on Crime?  You who
watch as
> budgets are cut in education and health care
    Reducing spending on socialized education and government-sponsored
health care isn't the same as reducing education and health care.
 while you militarize a police force?
> Bullet-proof vests, automatic weapons, helicopters, tanks, robots ...
    God help any civilian who tried to protect himself with a bullet proof
vest. Private ownership of bullet proof vests and similar armor is illegal
in many states.
    It's one thing for a government to disarm its subjects. It's quite
another for a government to deny its subjects the right to buy the armor
they need to protect themselves against violence. Unlike use of a gun in
self defense, use of a bullet proof vest can never result in the death of
the assailant.
the
> testosterone is oozing through the streets, more prisons,
    More prisons means more crime. It's just that the crime takes place
inside steel cages, out of view, in a more politically convenient place.
longer sentences,
    If a criminal already expects that conviction would put him away for
several years, the criminal's expected marginal cost of a couple years on
top of that is pretty low. Many if not most felons who receive prison
sentences don't survive until the end of the sentence, and a felony
conviction makes a person pretty close to unemployable even if he does get
out.
tighten
> the belt, spartan conditions, task forces, gang units, gun courts.

And what is there
> to show for it?  Unemployent stays low because half the population
oversees those
> "out of the workforce", the dregs, the rabble, the enemy?
    Unemployment would plummet if the minimum wage, government-mandated
racial discrimination, Social Security and Medicare taxes, nitty gritty
regulations and paperwork, and other anti-employment government policies
were repealed. Of course, this would come to close to actually solving the
problem. If unemployment were low, politicians wouldn't be able to make hay
out of inflationary short term stimulus packages and jobs programs that take
jobs from some and give them to others.
Please tell me there is a
> deeper reason.  Do you feel safer?  More humane?  More like a cohesive
society with a
> shared sense of purpose, who can identify Us and Them?  Do you live in a
gated
> community or gentrified neighborhood?  By the way, have you read the
Declaration of
> Independence and US Constitution - or do you only know the first phrases?
>
> It's about time we got together.  Please know that I have yet to meet a
convict who
> wants their child to be a thief, an addict, a dealer, a prostitute, or a
violent
> individual.  Most of us still have hope for ourselves even when stuck in
the darkest
> dilemmas, ruts and catch-22s.  Most of us believe in crafting laws and
instilling
> order.  Many of us have burrowed beneath the surface to find a spiritual
sense of
> being, an understanding force at least as powerful as those we succumbed
to, and many
> of use wouldn't escape if you opened the front door.  Did you know that
approximately
> 10 million Americans are either incarcerated, on probation, on parole or
once were in
> those categories?  Each of those 10 million have families, friends,
neighbors ... and
> so closer and closer does the We interface with the You.  Don't you think
it's time we
> talked?
>
> Are you ready?  Can you accept that the road we are travelling points
toward a grim
> and painful future?  Do you have the heart to face monumental failures
while bravely
> struggling beyond where we are now?  I know that some of you are, and that
some of us
> are, and this is what gives me hope.  You need our insights just as we
need your
> structure.  It is never over, especially when a real solution, a real
treatment for
> our sickness, is yet to begin.
>                                                    In Solidarity,
>
>                                                    Bruce Reilly (a.k.a
Bruha)
>                                                    P.O.Box 8274
>                                                    Cranston, RI 02920 USA
>
> P.S. - I am trying to conceptualize an effective guerilla media campaign
to promote
>        this cause.  Ideas are welcome.  Collaboration is prayed.