Democrat Bail Reform

Every weeks it seems democrats have some new plan to solve all our problems. This week it's bail reform. They say requiring bail is racist and bigoted. They are telling us that more blacks are in jail than whites because they can't pay the smallest bail. For this reason they want to do away with the bail system all together. So far, I have heard no clear plan for a replacement, just elimination.

Imagine this scenario. A mass murderer is arrested. Instead of placing him in a police car, he is handed something similar to a speeding ticket that tells him to call a number to find out when he can appear before a judge. He is then released back into the public while he awaits trial.

I did lay out the most extreme case, but I saw nothing on nationalbailout.org that said anything to the contrary. Even if they wanted to eliminate bail for non-violent offenders, they would still leave a lot of dangerous people walking the streets. You might say innocent until proven guilty, but police spend a lot of time and money to find alleged criminals. This is why we have bail hearings to decide who should be detained and who can be released.

Personal Debt

Americans have accumulated $4 trillion dollars of personal debt. This much debt is a dangerous trend. There is no evidence that personal debt will decrease. Student loan debt, alone, is $1.5 trillion dollars. This debt is akin to home mortgages because they often require lifetime payments. Credit card debt is more than a trillion dollars. This is maybe the worst debt of them all.

We have to look at each type of debt independently. Housing and college debt are, at least, an investment in the future. A home can often be sold for more than its purchase price. Student debt often leads to higher incomes in he future. This doesn't mean either are always good choices. If you buy a house larger than you can truly afford, odds are good that you will, someday, face foreclosure. If you borrow $100,000 for a women's study degree, chances are you will end up working in fast food. No matter the type of debt, we must make wise choices.

My mom grew up poor and she was terrified of any type of debt. She passed that fear onto me, but I still fell into the debt trap. I got into the habit of buying on credit at the local mom and pop store. This was common in the area. They didn't charge any interest. When you got paid, you go there to cash your check and they clear your your tab. Stores did this because it was a way to gain more customers.

The Digital Town Square

Is social media truly the new town square? There have been a lot of conservative and ideologically right voices being banned from Facebook and Twitter. Some on the ideological right say these are private businesses and have a right to ban whomever they please.

I've personally been torn between thoughts. My first reaction is that we don't want government interfering in private businesses. We all know that government is constantly regulating businesses, but those of us for a free market work to fight against regulations.

There is one possible way to fight against people being banned, and that's through civil suits. There was recently a mass banning of right-wing people and groups from Facebook in the name of clearing the site of hate groups. Labeling a group or person as hate can have financial and social harm. I believe we will see some lawsuits against Facebook and Twitter for this labeling. Civil suits can protect the rich, but the average person can't afford to sue a large corporation.