[lbo-talk] lbo-talk Digest, Vol 1736, Issue 3

Michael Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
Mon Oct 31 17:38:28 PDT 2011


On Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:15:39 -0400 Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:


> Also, as Christian asked earlier today:
> "What does 'prison abolition' actually mean?
> I still don't know and can't get a clear answer
> and thus never subscribed."

I'm tempted to ask "Who cares what it means?"

I sense a confusion here between politics and policy. You don't have to worry about policy until *after* you've stormed the Winter Palace. Don't ask what you're going to do with all those real criminals until the responsibility for them is thrust upon you.

I used to be close to a little Maoist sect which was sorely puzzled about how to respond to the anti-nuke movement that welled up in the aftermath of the Three Mile Island incident. The cadres were very hesitant about signing on to the anti-nuke thing. "After all," as one of the honchos patiently explained to me, "once we take state power, we may have to *run* these reactors."

-- --

Michael J. Smith mjs at smithbowen.net

http://stopmebeforeivoteagain.org http://www.cars-suck.org http://fakesprogress.blogspot.com

"I think the American people want a solemn ass as a President, and I think I will go along with them."

-- Barack Obama

(Okay, okay, it was really Calvin Coolidge.)



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