Solving problems is the single thing that separates humans from other species of animals. It is driven by an underlying desire to make our lives easier and better. Inventions and discoveries from the wheel and electricity, from medicine to the modern cellphone and Internet. All were meant to make our lives easier and better.
When confronting a problem, we can make 3 different decisions. The right one, the wrong one and no decision at all. Sometimes what is thought to be the right decision turns out to be wrong.
Inventions and discoveries are best tested by a small group for effectiveness or unanticipated problems. Our most recent example is the COVID-19 vaccine. Six different companies testing its effectiveness in groups of as many as 30,000 people for effectiveness.
Social problems are different. They are as old as man himself. This has both its origins and limits within the human and animal that we are. Your favorite psychologist can give you the list of what humans like. On the top of that list and due to our human nature we like to make the least amount of effort to achieve the greatest amount of effect. Push a button, flick a switch and watch things change.
That could not be more true than when we vote.
Changes in leaders and laws all promise to bring us a better tomorrow. Sometimes they do sometimes they do, to some extent, at the expense of others.
One of the most interesting social complexities is how we respond to crime, criminals and the laws that are intended to deal with them.
When it comes down to it, there are 3 types of people. There are some who are honest all the time and there are some who are dishonest all the time. However, most are as honest as are they made to be. If no one is looking and there is no one to stop you, then “worry not.”
Crime and criminals go back to the origins of the time when Adam and Eve stole an apple in the Garden of Eden and their two sons got into a fight and one killed the other. Christ was killed on a cross along with 2 thieves. This is only testimony to what we all know about human nature when left to its own demise.
Every state, county and city has laws to deal with crime and criminals.
In the US, federal and state laws supersede county and city laws, however we are seeing a recent trend by many cities and elected authorities to “selectively enforce” the laws they personally approve of. An example is California’s Governor Newsom’s “Moratorium on the Death Penalty.” In spite of an overcrowding effort to reduce California’s prison population, Newsom refuses to reduce the number of 750 convicted, cold blooded killers currently enjoying life on Death Row.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon refuses to use “10-20-Life (Use A Gun You’re Done Law)” for criminals who use guns in the commission of a crime.
Selective enforcement instead of even enforcement have provided “Islands of Immunity” from prosecution in one area and not in another.
So what happened to “No one is above the law” or “Everyone is equal under the law?”
This is a system that sends mixed messages. We all know what happens to our children when their mom and dad send mixed messages.
You end up with kids who do “damn well they want.”
Welcome to the new California.