G. Michael Johnston looks like every ones Grandfather or a Dutch uncle. Dutch uncle is a term for a person who issues frank, harsh, and severe comments and criticism to educate, encourage, or admonish someone. Thus, a "Dutch uncle" is a person who is rather the reverse of what is normally thought of as avuncular or uncle-like (which would be indulgent and permissive). Regarding issues of crime and punishment, Mr. Johnston makes no bones about the fact that he wants to "Lock 'em up........throw away the key." It is really too bad, a scene we would love to see in court is some miscreant vandal has Judge Johnston walk down, explain the facts of life and slaps the defendant a few times for good measure. Mr. Johnnston is probably the only candidate that could do it, and have such actions mean something. This was simply the opinion of your narrator, Uncle Cato and not anything official said, implied or written by Mr. Johnston. Unfortunately, there is that little thing called the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that says, "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."
During the time of the Founding Father's the Crime Act of 1790 called for hanging and mutilation of the corpse. Can you imagine that today. Now, executed prisoners are given funerals reminiscent of a United States President. Click on the preceding sentence to see I just cannot make up stuff like this. Flogging one hundred years ago was common place. We are not advocating flogging, but we Libertarians see alternatives for petty criminals. I would love to see a Judge sentence a vandal to clean up his message; or the messes of people of his/her ilk. Graffiti artists would be given a toothbrush, some detergent and made to scrub away their feeble attempts at imitating a dog by marking their turf. This type of "Alternative Sentencing" punishment would only seem cruel and unusual to those being sentenced, not to society at large that will get to see the results of clean streets free of graffiti. Many times, criminals like 'taggers' have hardly lifted a finger, maybe a little work will instill upon them some work ethic.
We would love to see a Judge re-institute the stocks. (This is not a publicly or privately stated policy of Mr. Johnston) This could be a great money maker. We take someone like an embezzler or common thief, put them in the town square and charge public admission. We charge a toke fee to see the miscreant. We charge a little more to throw mud, rotting veggies at the miscreant, a little bit more to take a picture. The money generated will be used to pay expenses, repay victims or fund the schools, roads or parks. Maybe public humiliation would work wonders. It is obvious, posting a picture or the name of criminals in the local paper does little to dissuade anti-social behavior. Unfortunately, the American Civil Liberties Union (herein the ACLU)would have something to say about our plan .
What do groups like the ACLU suggest? Well, $60,000 a year (or more) so criminals can live in climate controlled (heated and air conditioned) cells, get three hot meals a day. Medical/Dental/Vision care which equals the health care plan of Congress. Lest we forget, cable television with an all day, all night premium movie channel. Naysayers of the California Prison Industrial Complex say prisoners come out no better, or worse, then when they entered. What they forget, is the inmates in California get it so good (probably better than they had it on the streets), hardly a care in the world, they WANT to return. One inmate told a member of our group, "If I knew it was so good in here (Folsom State Prison), I would have killed sooner." Hard punishment is an unknown in California. It is possible and more often the case, a prisoner in California does not have to leave his cell except when getting his aforementioned three meals and maybe take a shower. When an inmate acts up; gets into a fight or kills one of his fellow inmates, he is put into Administrative Segregation (herein called Ad-Seg). In Ad-Seg the only thing that changes is the inmate is placed into a different cell. The meals and other inmate services are brought to his cell. How would you like breakfast in bed every day? It is easy for an organization like the ACLU to so easily spend other peoples (i.e., that is your) tax money.
Johnston seems to the only candidate that has a clear policy on the roving gangs of criminals and a firm plan for their lawful disposition. Mr. Johnston also stated, at the Candidates night at the Moose Lodge, he is open to alternative sentencing arrangements. Maybe he will take some of our suggestions to heart. We need to send a very loud and very clear message to these idiots...do your crime somewhere else.
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