Decriminalize the Average Man - Wendy McElroy - Mises Daily
Those who know me personally know that I describe myself as a "libertarian" and for the most part I am. In this article - most of which I agree with - Ms McElroy outlines reforms that I feel should be made and would agree with; if not advocate.
I have long advocated the decriminalization of a lot of things - like drug us (tax it and regulate it for content) and other non-violent offenses. I agree that restitution-plus damages is a good formula as an alternative to throwing people behind bars for many offenses. I am not all that sure what to do with repeated offenders and scofflaws but there probably is a disciplinary action that does not involve spending time behind bars.
Of course, the big problem with any of that is that we would have to start holding people personally accountable for their choices and actions ... horrors of horrors, we would not be able to claim that we were victims of circumstances beyond our control and therefore no restitution is required. No, for such a system to work, we would have to have do away with the culture of victimhood and as she points out, that is not likely to happen until people understand victimhood's costs.
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