Before we can solve Idaho's budget woes, we must all come together in acknowledging that stupid people must be allowed to make stupid decisions. I have made several in my life and hope to live long enough to not repeat them. We have gotten away from some of Darwin's best conclusions, and this ignorance has a stranglehold on our financial well-being.
First, legalize drugs and suspend all publicly-funded programs dealing with drug use and enforcement. This will serve two purposes; 1)the drug addicts wanting public assistance will go to a state with more programs (if you doubt this, you know nothing about how information travels in this culture); and 2) we will see an almost immediate relieving of jail crowding issues. We have got to quit criminalizing self-destructive behaviors. We should legalize them and tax them into oblivion. We cannot and should not eliminate the consequences for poor choices.
Second, remove K-12 education from its position atop the sacred-cow pile. State funding should create a scenario where school districts with lower administration costs (i.e. Cassia Co School District) receive a more favorable classification and funding formula. Funding should increase or decrease based on administration cost/student ratios. The fact that Richfield and Detrich or Murtaugh and Hansen are separate districts is asinine at best, and possibly criminal. Teachers should be the last cuts made, but they need to understand that they have a stake in the financial well-being of their respective districts. A bonus program that rewards them for performance and budget savings could be implemented w/out affecting base salaries.
These are just two ideas; later this week we will discuss more.
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"Heber the Wise", has skillfully identified two of the great sucking sounds coming from the Idaho budget, Education and Incarceration. Let's start with the easiest one first, those being served three meals a day at taxpayer expense. No not the school children, the convicts.
ReplyDeleteSomewhere between 30-40% of those incarcerated in Idaho are doing time for drug related offenses. Are these people really the criminals we need to be protected from? Is it worth losing our own civil rights in our attempts to save a few dope addicts?
Reality sucks, just as Mormoms are going to continue hoarding food, Baptists will continue to snatch Haitians, drug users are going to keep using. We all find heaven in our own way. What sells for $150 a gram here can be bought for under $5 a gram in Columbia. About the only real noticable impact from this price spread is the amount of crime our drug users must commit to finance their habit. Well, and the 6,000 Mexicans gunned down as part of getting the drugs to our pale white noses.
How about a new solution that involves reality and economics? Have the state of Idaho buy drugs for $5 a gram and then give it away free to those who register to use. The savings in legal and law enforcement would more than make up for the drug purchase expense. We the taxpayers get to retain our civil rights and pay less for drug related matters, drug users get to blow out their heart valves. We all win. As a caller from Salmon once said in reference to the death of Jerry Garcia, "Around here people don't know what the big fuss is, just another dead dope addict."