2aguy
Diamond Member
- Jul 19, 2014
- 112,334
- 52,581
- 2,290
Government unions are pushing for profit prisons......should they be prohibited to prevent the spread of for profit prisons?
http://reason.com/blog/2015/06/02/are-for-profit-prisons-or-public-unions
But there's a far larger lobbies invested in large prison populations—corrections officers and their associated unions, whose bread and butter are the bodies the Post seems to worry only private prisons can "commodify," and police unions, whose jobs, too, are in part dependent on there being a demand to fill prisons up.
The California prison guards union, for example, poured millions of dollars to influence policy in California alone—it spent $22 million on campaign donations since 1989, more than CCA and GEO have combined, and continues to push for prison expansions. The National Fraternal Order of Police, meanwhile, spent $5 million on lobbying efforts since 1989, more than GEO did. That's not to mention the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, which includes a "Corrections Union" and lobbies on behalf of all kinds of policies that seek to turn citizens into revenue sources for public employees. They've spent $187 million on campaign donations since 1989, making a far stronger case to be labeled the biggest lobby nobody's talking about than private prisons.
The left's narrative wants to suggest that public unions spend money in politics simply to get better contract deals. While that, too, is morally problematic, it's also an incomplete account. Public unions also spend money to get policies passed that will increase the value of and need for their employees, policies that will naturally treat people like revenue sources.
Despite The Post's assertions, people are cluing in to for-profit prisons, opposition to which-especially of the CCA—seems to be becoming a cause du jour on the left. The way public unions push policies that seek to turn the governed into cash cows for government employees is a far less appreciated problem. In that way, private prisons are a distraction. It's not the CCA, but government employees at all levels, who have profited more, for example, from the drug war that's fueled the rise in the U.S. prison population. In a rare moment of honesty, Hillary Clinton admitted as much when she was secretary of state, saying the drug war couldn't be ended because "there is just too much money." The Clintons know a thing or two about how lucrative the business of government can be.
http://reason.com/blog/2015/06/02/are-for-profit-prisons-or-public-unions
But there's a far larger lobbies invested in large prison populations—corrections officers and their associated unions, whose bread and butter are the bodies the Post seems to worry only private prisons can "commodify," and police unions, whose jobs, too, are in part dependent on there being a demand to fill prisons up.
The California prison guards union, for example, poured millions of dollars to influence policy in California alone—it spent $22 million on campaign donations since 1989, more than CCA and GEO have combined, and continues to push for prison expansions. The National Fraternal Order of Police, meanwhile, spent $5 million on lobbying efforts since 1989, more than GEO did. That's not to mention the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, which includes a "Corrections Union" and lobbies on behalf of all kinds of policies that seek to turn citizens into revenue sources for public employees. They've spent $187 million on campaign donations since 1989, making a far stronger case to be labeled the biggest lobby nobody's talking about than private prisons.
The left's narrative wants to suggest that public unions spend money in politics simply to get better contract deals. While that, too, is morally problematic, it's also an incomplete account. Public unions also spend money to get policies passed that will increase the value of and need for their employees, policies that will naturally treat people like revenue sources.
Despite The Post's assertions, people are cluing in to for-profit prisons, opposition to which-especially of the CCA—seems to be becoming a cause du jour on the left. The way public unions push policies that seek to turn the governed into cash cows for government employees is a far less appreciated problem. In that way, private prisons are a distraction. It's not the CCA, but government employees at all levels, who have profited more, for example, from the drug war that's fueled the rise in the U.S. prison population. In a rare moment of honesty, Hillary Clinton admitted as much when she was secretary of state, saying the drug war couldn't be ended because "there is just too much money." The Clintons know a thing or two about how lucrative the business of government can be.