re: #52 Obdicut

But conservatism doesn’t have to mean ‘not moving forwards’. It was supposed to mean, it traditionally meant ‘not changing for the sake of changing and changing with care’. It’s a modern meaning that it means going back to some mythical past.

For example: I’m in favor of privatizing the entire prison system, though making it heavily regulated, and tying the payments to the prison to recidivism. I think that’s the only way for us to actually get to rehabilitative prisons. I don’t think the government will ever do so on its own.

Is that ‘conservative’ or ‘liberal’ position of mine? My goal is shorter sentences and more people returned to productive work. My means is privatization.

The definition of conservative and liberal - or more accurately, regressive and progressive - changes with time. It was once progressive to think that that more people other than land-owning white males should have the ability to vote.

With that in mind, I would think a more “progressive” form of our so-called prison system would have a much more developed rehab infrastructure (perhaps tied to single-payer). Privatization for prisons, like health-care, makes it a profit industry. And when people decide that the only way to get healthcare is to get it in prison, well…