Lexington Herald Leader Editorial: Nation, State Can't Depend On Patches.
Nation, state can't depend on patches
What does releasing prisoners in Kentucky have in common with taxpayers bailing out Wall Street?
Both are patches on broken systems — systems that require rebuilding from the ground up.
We support both of the emergency repairs; sometimes you can't do without a patch.
But even $700 billion patches are no substitute for fundamental changes that lawmakers in Frankfort and Washington must make.
Layer upon layer of decisions and unintended consequences pushed both systems to their respective tipping points.
In Kentucky, "tough on crime" politics and addiction-fueled crime have produced the nation's fastest-growing prison population. The state can't invest in education or health care because prisons suck up every spare penny.
The early-release program is an attempt to bail out the state budget by reducing the sentences of some parole violators. We supported the program as a reasonable approach to limiting prison growth by rewarding parolees for the time they stayed clean.
But it may run aground on constitutional challenges. Prodded by prosecutors, Attorney General Jack Conway has filed suit seeking to halt the early releases.
Conway's action against what some deride as a back-door solution makes it even more urgent for policy-makers to launch open, straightforward reform of Kentucky's penal code, which still makes felons of people who forge $30 bad checks and keeps addicts in a revolving door of incarceration. Lawmakers who have built careers promising to "lock 'em up and throw away the key" need to find a new tune.
The challenges facing Congress are more daunting: Not just undoing years of fiscal recklessness and "anything goes" regulation, but also rooting out underlying causes of the economic crisis, such as the bankruptcy "reforms" of 2005.
Kentucky's own Sen. Mitch McConnell championed tougher bankruptcy rules on behalf of banks and credit-card companies that wanted to collect from people to whom they had marketed high-interest loans.
People are being forced to walk away from homes without even trying to restructure their debts and pay their mortgages. This has driven up foreclosures, deepening the housing slump that brought on the credit crisis that necessitated last week's bailout.
More fundamental, government has grown captive to the very interests it is supposed to scrutinize and regulate.
Almost no one gives more money to federal candidates than the financial sector — nearly $340 million in this year's elections, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That's more than health ($112 million), energy ($52 million) or defense ($19 million.)
Securities and investment firms have spent $46 million lobbying Congress this year. Not to mention millions more donated to politicians' favorites charities.
Members of Congress will swear that all this money has no influence on their decisions. If that were true, the money would dry up.
Looking at the near economic disaster, Fayette County Clerk Don Blevins, a seasoned political pro, says that the long-term solution is public financing of campaigns.
Kentucky Republicans killed public financing of the governor's race by reviling it as welfare for politicians.
But paying for government unencumbered by special interests would be cheap compared with footing the bill for more bailouts.
What does releasing prisoners in Kentucky have in common with taxpayers bailing out Wall Street?
Both are patches on broken systems — systems that require rebuilding from the ground up.
We support both of the emergency repairs; sometimes you can't do without a patch.
But even $700 billion patches are no substitute for fundamental changes that lawmakers in Frankfort and Washington must make.
Layer upon layer of decisions and unintended consequences pushed both systems to their respective tipping points.
In Kentucky, "tough on crime" politics and addiction-fueled crime have produced the nation's fastest-growing prison population. The state can't invest in education or health care because prisons suck up every spare penny.
The early-release program is an attempt to bail out the state budget by reducing the sentences of some parole violators. We supported the program as a reasonable approach to limiting prison growth by rewarding parolees for the time they stayed clean.
But it may run aground on constitutional challenges. Prodded by prosecutors, Attorney General Jack Conway has filed suit seeking to halt the early releases.
Conway's action against what some deride as a back-door solution makes it even more urgent for policy-makers to launch open, straightforward reform of Kentucky's penal code, which still makes felons of people who forge $30 bad checks and keeps addicts in a revolving door of incarceration. Lawmakers who have built careers promising to "lock 'em up and throw away the key" need to find a new tune.
The challenges facing Congress are more daunting: Not just undoing years of fiscal recklessness and "anything goes" regulation, but also rooting out underlying causes of the economic crisis, such as the bankruptcy "reforms" of 2005.
Kentucky's own Sen. Mitch McConnell championed tougher bankruptcy rules on behalf of banks and credit-card companies that wanted to collect from people to whom they had marketed high-interest loans.
People are being forced to walk away from homes without even trying to restructure their debts and pay their mortgages. This has driven up foreclosures, deepening the housing slump that brought on the credit crisis that necessitated last week's bailout.
More fundamental, government has grown captive to the very interests it is supposed to scrutinize and regulate.
Almost no one gives more money to federal candidates than the financial sector — nearly $340 million in this year's elections, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That's more than health ($112 million), energy ($52 million) or defense ($19 million.)
Securities and investment firms have spent $46 million lobbying Congress this year. Not to mention millions more donated to politicians' favorites charities.
Members of Congress will swear that all this money has no influence on their decisions. If that were true, the money would dry up.
Looking at the near economic disaster, Fayette County Clerk Don Blevins, a seasoned political pro, says that the long-term solution is public financing of campaigns.
Kentucky Republicans killed public financing of the governor's race by reviling it as welfare for politicians.
But paying for government unencumbered by special interests would be cheap compared with footing the bill for more bailouts.
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posted by KYJurisDoctor at 2:14 PM
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