"The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners." (from the NY Times.)
This is the downside - financial and societal - of a thin-lipped, thin-skinned Victorian nanny-state society yelping incessantly about "freedom" while gleefully incarcerating people for behaviors that don't deserve to be called "criminal." Dysfunctional, immoral or plain stupid, maybe, but not criminal.
Do I smoke dope? No. Do I deserve a prison sentence if I change my mind? Hell no!
Maybe our 51st state should be called "Buttinsky." Maybe they should add it as a line on your tax bill. Maybe you'd see the upside to not intruding on your neighbor's downside. Maybe you'd get over it.
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