When conservatives and progressives agree on a program, it is very likely to turn out to be a disaster. The most recent example of this is the so-called First Step sentencing reform bill just passed by the Senate, which received 87 votes in favor, 12 opposed.
The most famous example of this collusion was the agreement between left and right to shutter the nation’s mental hospitals. The left thought people should be free to be as crazy as they pleased, and the right saw a way to save literally billions of dollars. The result, probably half of those imprisoned are screwed up mentally, and millions more are grocery-cart pushing homeless, mumbling to themselves, living under bridges and defecating on the sidewalk.
The reasoning going into First Step is probably analogous, the left thinks people should be free to use and deal drugs, and the right would like to spend less on prisons. In this case those set free in society will prey on the rest of us, not a nice prospect.
It is not as if we understood how to “rehabilitate” felons, very clearly we do not. Most reoffend and end up back in “the system.” The mistake is letting them out in the first place.
The unintended consequence of First Step is more law-abiding citizens getting and using concealed carry permits, and eventually more felons being shot by people who shouldn’t be forced to resort to such extreme means.
