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There is an old saying that “In politics reality is irrelevant; it is only the voters’ perception of reality that matters.” And, regretfully, I believe that this is true. So when we have a housing shortage and people are homeless, many voters naturally look to the government for a resolution. And, since politicians live and die on voter approval, they hasten to enact programs that have the governments paying vast amounts of money to build new housing units.

As I have told you before, about five years ago I was on the syndicated radio show called “Coast to Coast” with George Noory discussing criminal justice issues. Soon thereafter I received letters from twelve men who are incarcerated in various prisons all around the country, so I started corresponding with them about prison conditions. Now the number has gone up to about 40. Most of the letters complain about all kinds of things.

Happily many people from widely different backgrounds and experiences have reached the same conclusions that I have about the failure of our country’s policy of Drug Prohibition. One of them is Ms. Christina Dent who lives with her young family in Mississippi. Ms. Dent has written a book entitled CURIOUS: A Foster Mom’s Discovery of an unexpected Solution to Drugs and Addiction..

As is said routinely, the purpose of this column is to stimulate thought and discussion. So in that pursuit I am passing along to you, with permission, a list of issues that one of our 2 Paragraphs Family members shared with me. Good stimulating questions, don’t you think? And please think about and pass along your answers to your circle of friends (including me). So here they are:

The first paragraph of the article entitled “Rationales for New Regulation” in the Summer 2024 edition of Regulation: The CATO Review of Business and Government, reads as follows: “By any measure, US federal regulation is big business. Year after year, hundreds of thousands of employees at 70-plus regulatory agencies churn out thousands of new rules.

Page one of the July 24-30, 2024 edition of The Epoch Times featured an article entitled “Mothers Blame China, Cartels” with the subtitle of “Fentanyl is ‘weapon of mass destruction’ destroying families.” Of course there are many people in the world who will try to make easy money by selling contraband. For openers, just remember people like Al Capone who took advantage of our nation’s policy of Alcohol Prohibition.

To state the obvious, today our Great Nation is in many ways divided and even polarized. How can we address and overcome this difficulty? Through the healing power of Federalism. And what is that? It institutes two levels of government: one for the entire country (the federal government) that is usually responsible for a few subjects of national interest, and the other for the various constituent of units of the country (the states).

In my view, the most dangerous threat to our safety and security is not the possibility of being invaded by another country, terrorist actions by any of the world’s radical elements, climate change or even nuclear war. Instead, the greatest threat facing the safety of our country is a weak national economy. Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome and the Ottoman Empire were really not conquered by external forces.

Years ago, 23 men committed offenses that resulted in their eventually being committed to R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility, which is a state prison for men in San Diego near the Mexican border. But now those men have received their Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California at Irvine! Amazingly, they have graduated from a major university while incarcerated! How did this happen?

The June 12, 2024 edition of the Orange County Register told us that the State of California has more than 220,000 full-time employees!~ Of course, that is in addition to hundreds of thousands of government employees at the municipal level, as well as many more who are employed by California’s “Special Districts” like water, transit, mosquito control and sanitation. Out of control?