Social Security is really a widely encompassing description for a variety of government assistance programs including Medicare, Medicaid, disability benefits and retirement programs, to name the most common. Social Security programs, specifically the retirement program, have long been considered a perilous “third rail” for politicians, meaning that if you tamper with the existing program you […]

I remember learning back in school about the basic necessities for human life: food, water, shelter, and clothing. While the latter may at times be a matter of prerogative, the former three are indisputable necessities. When these are not available to us, we become incapable of functioning within societal parameters. When whole areas are afflicted […]

I’ve spent the last few days looking through my tattered, pocket-sized Constitution, searching high and low for the portions within that authorize or regulate our government’s implementation of various social programs that now are ubiquitous in America. I thought for sure that somewhere in the Constitution I would find something about education funding or medical […]

Knowledge is power. Knowledge is empowering. To the casual observer, these two statements may seem to be saying the same thing. But if you look closer, and try to understand the difference between these two thoughts, you will see that they in fact are two diametrically opposed ideas. The former implies that control is the […]

The average American citizen has little or no interest in foreign affairs. Aside from what they read in the newspaper or see on TV, the comings and goings of other countries and their governments go unnoticed in the lives of most of us. And why not? After all, the federal government handles all of our […]

Imagine for a moment a world without national borders. In this world, people would have the ability to travel anywhere without restriction; they would be able to live anywhere without regards to place of birth; they would be able to shop, to learn, and to converse with people of many races and cultures. This kind […]

Any discussions about reforming the state of our legal system must necessarily include our system of civil justice. The civil justice system exists not to keep society safe from physical harm, but rather to allow individuals a place for solving disputes that do not rise to the level of criminal behavior, whether they involve private […]

The final element of criminal justice reform rests in ensuring that our legal code is both just and enforceable. Too much has been written into criminal law that endeavors to regulate behavior which has no overriding social need to be regulated. Individual actions that result in no physical or financial harm to others or their […]

An important yet often neglected aspect of our criminal justice system is the effectiveness of our punishment system. Any punishment meted out by our legal system must contain three elements: it must appropriately punish the convicted person, it must act as a deterrent to others, and it must protect society from repeated criminal acts. Without […]

The reforms I suggested in Criminal Justice Reformed offer the possibilities of more effective and fiscally prudent law enforcement practices and clearly defined areas of responsibility for investigating and prosecuting criminal behavior. Those reforms, while worthwhile in and of themselves, are not enough to reduce the criminal element in society. To better the chances of […]