MCViewPoint

Opinion from a Libertarian ViewPoint

Posts Tagged ‘Payback’

Prison Labor

Posted by M. C. on November 21, 2023

Walter Block

Yet, opponents of prison labor “virtue signal” all over the place. They pose as the friends of inmates. They besmirch those of us who advocate allowing them to work as favoring “slavery” of all things. No, no, no, the very opposite is true. Not compelling prisoners to work actually enslaves them: to a continued life of crime.

https://substack.com/inbox/post/139040769

I’m sure there are more provocative titles than this one: “Louisiana Votes to Keep Slavery.” The trouble is, I can’t think of any, even after cogitating on this matter for quite a while!

What’s going on? Did Louisianans really vote to bring back slavery? Of course not. Don’t be silly. Rather, the issue was prison labor. Should inmates be forced to work while incarcerated?

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Well, the rest of us, pretty much all of us work. (Ok, ok, children and the very elderly don’t). Why shouldn’t convicted criminals join the remainder of the human race in this regard? What is the alternative if they do not engage in labor? Working out, pardon the expression, in the gym? Watching television? Hanging out with one another and plotting future crimes? If prisons were put on a market place basis, they most certainly would work, and the proceeds of their labor would go to at least partially compensate their victims.

No, no, no. There are two good reasons why convicts should engage in labor, whether they want to do so or not. First, deontology. They violated rights, or they wouldn’t be in jail in the first place (apart from those wrongfully found guilty). Ideally, they should work so that the amount they produce, over and above the costs of incarcerating them, should be sent to their victims. The latter can never be made “whole” again, but, at least, if there were monies forthcoming to them from their abusers, that would be a vast improvement vis-à-vis the present system. Right now, these victims suffer twofold. Once, from having the crime perpetrated upon them. Second, from being forced—via taxes—to keep these criminals in jails with comfortable air-conditioning, gyms, basketball courts, televisions, etc.

Second, pragmatism.

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Rolling Over When It’s Payback Time › American Greatness

Posted by M. C. on February 2, 2022

The optics are never good for any politician taking on the Left with a hostile media. But that does not mean those who are terrified can win by pulling punches.

https://amgreatness.com/2022/01/31/rolling-over-when-its-payback-time/

By Paul Gottfried

According to, among other sources, Politico and the Federalist Society, Senate Republicans are not exactly bracing for a “bare knuckle” fight over Biden’s nominee to replace liberal Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. Whoever that nominee will be, that replacement supposedly will not change the balance of forces on the court between liberal activists and their opponents. It would therefore be a mistake, we are told, to waste ammunition and the good will of voters by going after the black female successor to Breyer. 

The likely appointee right now is Ketanji Brown Jackson, who sits on the D.C. Court of Appeals and who was raised to that post with bipartisan support in 2021. The fact that Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and two other Republican senators voted for this appointee for the federal bench has allowed the leftist press to describe her as a thoughtful moderate, perhaps someone comparable to Merrick Garland at the time the liberal media were touting our current attorney general for the court vacancy left by the death of Antonin Scalia. 

Of course, Brown-Jackson is no centrist, unless we make that term highly elastic. While a judge on the D.C. district court, she tried to block Trump’s attempts to control illegal border crossings; and on the federal bench, she has faithfully supported the congressional January 6 Committee, particularly its efforts to force Donald Trump to hand over White House records that he treated as confidential. 

Brown-Jackson also decided in favor of Biden’s executive order barring residential evictions last August, something the Supreme Court later reversed. Like Garland, Brown-Jackson is clearly a Democratic operative, which in addition to her gender and racial identity explains why Biden may be choosing her. But Brown-Jackson is no less moderate than Leondra Kruger, who sits on the California Supreme Court and who is also being considered for the vacancy that Breyer’s departure will create.

The Republicans, being the polite party, will not summon up the ruthless determination that the Democrats did in trying to block the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh. Republican sources are assuring us that this new nominee won’t change the composition of the court. She will be nothing more than a replacement for Stephen Breyer, who almost always voted with the Left on divisive judicial issues. Besides, Republican Party leaders are determined not to do anything that might alienate minority voters, for example, taking a strong stand against a female who is also a member of a racial minority.

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