1 – The public is too stupid to know what is going on, that they need to be protected by the governement. That comes off as very elitist and left wing, according to all my conservative friends, right?
To me, it’s a recognition of fact. That’s why the Constitutional Convention was held in utter secrecy, because the public was too stupid. That’s why so many meetings are done behind closed doors because the public is too stupid. Or rather, they just don’t have the time to understand the nitty gritty reality of the political process. Also, let’s take a look at what would happen, in a hypothetical conversation.
Legislators generally agree that rehabilitation and not punishment would be better for the state. Let’s say one of those people is in a deep red district. His personal beliefs, based on the facts and information in front of him, are that the prison should be moved in order to facilitate rehabbing prisoners. But, the people in his district believe that criminals in prison just need to rot in jail. He can’t fully express his opinions in public because his district is full of wackadoos. So, how can he express his opinion? He has to do it in private. Then, when the vote comes he votes in favor of it. His reasoning? Oh, it will cost the taxpayers less in the long run. And since he has an R by his name most of his voters will believe that line, even though, deep down, he’s doing it because he feels it’s best to rehabilitate rather than punish. That is a benefit of closed doors. It also allows legislators to look at the numbers. And perform a utilitarian calculus that would seem cold and heartless to far too many but would, in fact, be best for the state.
And it’s not a good look, but it has to be done. Because the public, who thinks a Representative has any say in the confirmation of a President’s political appointments, or who doesn’t understand both the vertical (between state and feds) and the horizontal (between different branches of the same level of government) is just too damn uninformed to look at the hard choices and the facts in front of them that have to be made.
I doubt many in Utah would be too distraught if the prison actually does some good, as you claim it will. In fact, if they make these details public, I’d bet the public would actually have some feelings of adequacy towards the legislature, for once.
Thing is that they have. There have been a couple of releases that doing nothing would cost the state $500 million or so and that doesn’t account for the fact that we may need to build another state facility within the foreseeable future due simply because of population growth, even if the new prison with its extra capacity is expanded to what the land in that area will allow. But nobody wants to talk about that. Nobody wants to talk about the fact that the legislature is getting out ahead of the rehabilitation curve and putting non-violent offenders into a category that will help them become productive members of society, and have been doing so for years with certain drug court pilot programs. No, they want the sensational. Policy is dull, but the chance for scandal? Now that is a story.
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