Excerpt on Incarceration
from "The September Speech"
“We live in what’s called a society. We are separate people, but we all have a stake in how well the whole does. Think of a less complicated society as an example. A pack of wolves. The wolves work together to take down prey and to get what they all need. In their society, if some of them don't fulfill their roles, the whole pack suffers. In our society, the same thing happens.
“Society expects its members to fulfill their roles. The more people who don't, the harder it is for the rest.
“Society also expects its members to take responsibility for their actions. Those who cannot be responsible must be taught to be responsible. Society cannot allow for unproductive or harmful members because these members hurt the whole. Society may allow, as it has for many years, some members to deviate. But at some point, it must resist and purge itself. Not by violence but by education and training. Like a body healing itself, society must heal itself as well.
“Society must rid itself of the cancer of corrupt politicians by not allowing legal corruption.
“Society must rid itself of habitual criminals and the expense of keeping them in jails, where they are not productive and come out worse than what they were before. You can’t put people in small cells for years and expect them to somehow come out cured. It must either turn them into responsible members of the whole or be rid of them. Society expects responsibility. It cannot function properly when its members aren't responsible.
“I've said many times that our culture has changed. It has bred more and more irresponsible members who take freedom for granted. When that number grows too large, society will ask for a dictator who will purge society for its responsible members and allow them to brush off the moral responsibility as the despot’s actions.
“We do not have to go there. But mark my words. If we continue to change culturally and become even more afraid and have more irresponsible members, the dictator will happen. People will vote for repression over compassion.
“I want to resist that terrible future. I want to bring about a more responsible and moral society, a society that can function well. A society in which all members can fulfill their obligations to the whole.
“Today, I will give you just a few examples of what I propose. Since I talked about crime and jails, let’s look at that first.
“Criminals were not born criminals. Most of them were made into criminals by circumstances – being born into poverty, having abusive parents, losing their jobs, and many other things. Now, our society has the tradition of trying a suspect and, if the suspect is guilty, putting the criminal in jail. Some get fines or probation, of course, depending on the severity of the crime.
“What does that mean to society? Society gets a cancer, you might say. Here are several million completely unproductive cells. Society has to take resources from somewhere healthy and divert those resources to feed the cancer.
“A dictator might eliminate the cancer. We, as people who are grateful and appreciate our liberty and freedom, are responsible for our actions and feel that life does have value. We want the damaged cells to be cured. We want to find ways to make the cancer into normal cells again, productive cells. And barring that, we want the damaged cells to produce in isolation from all of us undamaged cells.
“In the case of the criminal, we must find other ways than jail. We know that jail helps no one. We want the criminal to become productive. Therefore, we put the criminal into a productive place, not into a small prison cell. My first inclination is to have the criminal become the protector. Form companies and battalions and brigades of these men to protect our country. Put them first into an extended basic training where they learn to be responsible. Those who pass then go on to do real work in a company of similar soldiers. They've learned the meaning of responsibility, patriotism and the gift of freedom and liberty. They become productive. And if we can turn even half of them into productive citizens, then we’ll have made ourselves that much less afraid.”
“Society expects its members to fulfill their roles. The more people who don't, the harder it is for the rest.
“Society also expects its members to take responsibility for their actions. Those who cannot be responsible must be taught to be responsible. Society cannot allow for unproductive or harmful members because these members hurt the whole. Society may allow, as it has for many years, some members to deviate. But at some point, it must resist and purge itself. Not by violence but by education and training. Like a body healing itself, society must heal itself as well.
“Society must rid itself of the cancer of corrupt politicians by not allowing legal corruption.
“Society must rid itself of habitual criminals and the expense of keeping them in jails, where they are not productive and come out worse than what they were before. You can’t put people in small cells for years and expect them to somehow come out cured. It must either turn them into responsible members of the whole or be rid of them. Society expects responsibility. It cannot function properly when its members aren't responsible.
“I've said many times that our culture has changed. It has bred more and more irresponsible members who take freedom for granted. When that number grows too large, society will ask for a dictator who will purge society for its responsible members and allow them to brush off the moral responsibility as the despot’s actions.
“We do not have to go there. But mark my words. If we continue to change culturally and become even more afraid and have more irresponsible members, the dictator will happen. People will vote for repression over compassion.
“I want to resist that terrible future. I want to bring about a more responsible and moral society, a society that can function well. A society in which all members can fulfill their obligations to the whole.
“Today, I will give you just a few examples of what I propose. Since I talked about crime and jails, let’s look at that first.
“Criminals were not born criminals. Most of them were made into criminals by circumstances – being born into poverty, having abusive parents, losing their jobs, and many other things. Now, our society has the tradition of trying a suspect and, if the suspect is guilty, putting the criminal in jail. Some get fines or probation, of course, depending on the severity of the crime.
“What does that mean to society? Society gets a cancer, you might say. Here are several million completely unproductive cells. Society has to take resources from somewhere healthy and divert those resources to feed the cancer.
“A dictator might eliminate the cancer. We, as people who are grateful and appreciate our liberty and freedom, are responsible for our actions and feel that life does have value. We want the damaged cells to be cured. We want to find ways to make the cancer into normal cells again, productive cells. And barring that, we want the damaged cells to produce in isolation from all of us undamaged cells.
“In the case of the criminal, we must find other ways than jail. We know that jail helps no one. We want the criminal to become productive. Therefore, we put the criminal into a productive place, not into a small prison cell. My first inclination is to have the criminal become the protector. Form companies and battalions and brigades of these men to protect our country. Put them first into an extended basic training where they learn to be responsible. Those who pass then go on to do real work in a company of similar soldiers. They've learned the meaning of responsibility, patriotism and the gift of freedom and liberty. They become productive. And if we can turn even half of them into productive citizens, then we’ll have made ourselves that much less afraid.”