Cartoon 865: Assumptions Matter

On television most of the shows have to do with crime and punishment. It seems we are preoccupied with it. Voters consistently vote for harsher sentences, greater policing and prisons. I differ on our priorities. I will use something I call an outcome map based on a mind map.

The starting point is crime. Lines go away to what causes crime. Such things as lack of opportunity and inappropriate enculturation. What do they have as their common denominator? The environment. Starting from the environment draw lines. One line goes to parent involvement. That line goes to time and energy. Other lines go to schools, daycare, meals and healthcare.

I could continue creating a dense web. The bottom line is that to reduce crime the very best option is daycare, diet and early childhood education. Things the majority of voters are adamantly against if it uses tax dollars and in any way benefits minorities. Yet we can always find tax dollars for stadiums and business subsidies.

The next best solution is better elementary education. School systems around the country are segregated by economics. The quality of education follows the money. The logical solution is another forced integration of students. Voters would revolt.

The solutions to crime require decades and social change to produce lasting results. You can clearly see democracy is incapable of doing those things that will generate the best outcome. It is not in the interest of individuals. The other failure is not accounting for the fact democracy is always captured by the rich and powerful to the exclusion of the general populous. They have no interest in the travails of the peons.

The utility of democracy decreases with the complexity of society.