our sinking democracy

President Bush has just returned from Russia and Georgia. One media member asked, "Why is Valadimir Putin bashing our Democracy". As a retired diplomat (43 years with the diplomatic corp), I can tell you that most foreigners view our democracy with disdain. Their view is "IF WHAT AMERICA HAS IS AN EXAMPLE OF DEMOCRACY...THEN WE DON'T WANT IT"! Another journalist commented that Russia needs to give their Media more freedom. REALLY!!!! They look at our media and again see America as a good reason to go the other way.

Our prisons are so full we don't have room to lock up any more criminals. The solution is not to build more prisons...THE SOLUTION IS TO MAKE THE ONES WE HAVE INTO GENUINE PRISONS SO THERE WILL BE SOME INCENTIVE TO NOT GO THERE! For starters, we need to clean out "Death Row". Why should taxpayers foot the bill for their 20-year stay before they are executed. "It costs more to keep a prisioner in prison than it does to send your children to college". Two of my years as a diplomat were spent in China. They have a much better approach to the problem. A death sentence is carried out within 3 days. They put them on their knees, one shot to the back of the head, and here's the kicker..."THEY SEND THE FAMILY A BILL FOR THE BULLET". It makes a big impression!

In the meantime, until we can convert our institutions to Real Prisons, I also have a plan to cover it. We farm out our garbage to foreign countries (New York, for example puts garbage on barges and sends it to South America where another country is paid to deal with it. If we can farm out our garbage...WHY NOT OUR CRIMINALS? We open it up for bids..."WHO WILL KEEP OUR PRISIONERS UNTIL THEIR SENTENCE IS COMPLETED, AND AT WHAT PRICE"? Some country, like Pakistan will probably say, "We can do it for $34.99 per person per year". (Much better than the 50 thousand we pay, and it actually much higher because we keep getting repeat customers). The deal would be that for $34.99, per year, they keep them imprisioned and if they are still alive at the end of their sentence, we pay their fare back home. If they don't survive, we provide an additional $50 bucks to bury them there, then scratch their name off the list for Social Security.

The alternative solution is that we build bigger, stronger and better prisons, and lock ourselves inside because the criminals are going to control the streets.