United Behind a Common Enemy

Early in our nation's history the citizens of this country were united against a common enemy: the tyrannical King of England. We coalesced together and went to war against an enemy that threatened our way of life. We won that war, and thus began in this country a trend that has been common to civilizations throughout time: the need for a common enemy behind whom we can unite.

Americans have united against British loyalists, French revolutionaries, and ruthless world dominators. We have joined in fighting against alcohol (during prohibition), slavery, communism, and illicit drugs. Even now our nation is united in its war on terrorism. ISIS has become the face of evil that serves as more than a talking point for politicians. ISIS galvanizes the fears of the common public who has little power to do anything to assuage those fears. 

Whenever and wherever fear exists so too does the opportunist who capitalizes on those fears. Take, for example, the politicians who seized on the terror of a grieving nation in the wake of the terror attacks on 9/11 to pass an over-reaching law, the so called Patriot Act, which stripped Americans of Constitutionally protected First Amendment rights to privacy.

Despite this grievous violation of the Constitution, political idealogues defended this law by posing an unrealistic scenario: either throw out the Constitution or suffer terror attacks. 

Politicians and opportunists have likewise tricked the unwary public into believing that longer prison sentences and tough on crime laws will lower crime rates and keep the public safe. But rather than leading to lower crime rates and safer communities, these measures have only served to fill the war chests of savvy prison profiteers while bankrupting communities and schools who have their budgets cut while prison budgets explode. 

Shrewd politicians know that, even in the face of evidence that lengthy prison sentences do not lead to lower crime rates, to appear soft on crime would be political suicide. But the mounting evidence against the failed policies of the last quarter century is beginning to gain the attention of the public and in turn of some courageous leaders. 

A few leaders in Michigan have begun to recognize, for example, that a two billion dollar prison budget is not sustainable. As the outraged public begins to hold these politicians accountable for failing schools and crumbling infrastructure, these leaders have been forced to consider the fact that their war on crime has not worked.
While it is too early to tell if these leaders will follow through on true reforms of the excessively harsh and ineffective laws of the past, the signs of change are encouraging. 

Perhaps it is too much to hope for though, that the next common enemy behind which Americans may unite are arrogant politicians who ignore the evidence of failures in order to continue pacifying special interest groups who fund the politicians' re-elections. But one could hope.