Support4Change Blog

March 4, 2008

Categories: Q-and-A Club: Exploring Social and Political Issues

By Arlene Harder, MFT

TAX-AND-SPEND GAME CATEGORY THREE

• To understand what this topic is all about, read:

How Will the Election Change Our Taxes?

Rules of the Tax-and-Spend Game

• You can see the same questions I raise today if you go to Funding Protection Against Crime in the Q-and-A Club section of the Support4Change website. There you will also be able to access all eleven categories of the game that I post on this blog every-other-day.

• Play the Tax-and-Spend Game and enter a drawing. See form below.

• Share the Tax-and-Spend Game with your family and friends so they can better decide what programs they want the government to fund and what programs they are willing to do without if they don’t want to their taxes raised.

How do you want your taxes to be spent to protect you, and others, against crime?

We have the highest incarceration rate in the world. 2.3 million adults are in American prisons today. Are we any safer on our streets than we would be if some of them were not behind bars, or at least not kept behind bars as long as we have been incarcerating them?

We seem to want long sentences, but forget that the longer a person is in prison, the more money it takes to keep him or her there. And we hate to pay taxes. But not only is the average age of prisoners rising, the number of those over fifty is increasing significantly because of “three-strikes you’re out” and other mandatory sentencing laws. The cost of health care for these aging men and women is a large part of the prison budget.

Rather than keep building prisons, is now the time to provide more programs that keep people out of jail by reaching young people who are likely to commit crimes, by changing our sentencing laws, and by having more programs in prison to prevent recidivism? You decide.

If you are aware of other programs funded by local, state, and/or national taxes that help protect us from crime, and punish the offender, that are not included in this list, please let me know. Use the Contact Us form.

• Programs that work to reduce gang violence, such as youth diversion programs
  

• Management of prisons with a focus on rehabilitation
  
  
• Strong police force
  
  
• Management of a fair judicial system
  
  
• Enforcement of gun control laws
  
  
• Enforcement of laws against theft, fraud, graft, and other financial crimes
  
  
• Neighborhood watch programs
  
  
• Using school programs to stress moral and ethical behavior and responsibility to others
  

Enter a drawing for “Ask Yourself Questions and Change Your Life” after you have finished this category of the Tax-and-Spend Game

Each week I will give away my latest book, Ask Yourself Questions and Change Your Life. All you have to do is to complete one of the eleven Tax-and-Spend Game categories and fill out this form.

NOTE #1: All fields are required.

NOTE #2: I will not share your name with anyone and I won’t put you on my newsletter list unless you subscribe yourself on the subscription form on Support4Change Newsletter or on the blog’s Welcome page. This is just information I need for this one drawing, but if you don’t give me your correct email address I won’t be able to contact you if you win.

NOTE #3: You can enter as often as you like, but each entry must be for a different Tax-and-Spend Game category

Name:

Email Address:

Verify Email Address:

Name of the tax-and-spend category to which your answer below applies

Education National Security Protection Against Crime Protection Against Injury Physical and Mental Health Infrastructure Economic Stability and Job Growth Housing and Community Development Environmental Protection Cultural and Artistic Enrichment Foreign Aid

What government services and programs you now use are you willing to give up in order to help balance the budget? Why?

May I share your answer on the Support4Change blog or website? I will not give your name or email address.

Yes No

Hope you enjoy the Tax-and-Spend Game and learn something in the process. I’d love to hear what you think about it. Add a comment to this page or use the Contact Us form on Support4Change to send me your comments or ask a question.