Brass Tacks Redux

It has been a long time since I have posted on this blog.  I pretty much gave up on it, like many bloggers do.  I suppose I lost touch with many things I was passionate about, one of them being politics.  However, my life has gone through many transformations since then, and I feel I am a different person.  I have shed many of my old beliefs for new ones, as well as hold on to ideologies and ideas that I have always felt passionate about.

I digress.  This blog was made during a time when I was passionately right wing.  Furthermore, it was during an election season when political fervor seems to run high.  Although I still consider myself conservative, I no longer feel obligated to follow party lines.  Basically, I had had enough of "group think."

Since then, I have become a teacher (social sciences) and have rekindled my curiosity of all things political.  Maybe it took me another election cycle to figure this out, who knows.  The bottom line is, I am happy that I became aware of my transformation and I really can't wait to start writing and blogging again.  Hopefully, you all will enjoy my new and reformed views.

That being said, and with education on my mind, I would like to share a little statistic I found while reading upon the state of affairs in California:  California spends $50,000 for every inmate as opposed to $8,000 per student. Something is amiss here. I venture to guess that a good majority as these inmates are incarcerated for drug related charges. Even Pat Robinson, a major religious right figure has stated "The drug war just hasn't succeeded." More detailed stats can be found here. 


Further information on California's prison dilemmas can be found in this short clip that aired on Zakaria 360 a week ago: Zakaria: Incarceration nation.

The link speaks for itself, but the statistics compared to other Western nations is staggering and sobering.  In addition to strong corrections unions that have the ear of our state's politicians,  I firmly believe that with our declining state of education, we will see an increase in our prison population.  It might be cliche, but I hold it true that a lack of education leads to a life of crime because, without education, there are very few alternatives for individuals to make a living.  Lack of skills learned in school leads to these dire roads.  On the other hand, you have our tax dollars being funneled into our correctional system.  A system that is ever increasing.  Shouldn't we see a decrease in a prison population if so much is appropriated to it?  Its a vicious cycle that must be reformed.