| Politicians have waged a costly and fraudulent war on crime and drugs by spending billions of dollars on prosecutors, courts, jails, and prisons to discipline and punish the working class. Meanwhile, while the police and courts hammer working people, elected politicians have implemented staggering reductions in public investments designed to enhance corporate productivity and profit. Symbolic politics explains how politicians have manipulated public opinion with fabricated statistics, misinformation, and propaganda to advance their own narrow ends. Massive expenditures on prison construction endanger the public safety by incarcerating millions of Americans who will not learn the necessary skills in prison to participate in the legal economy. The chapter explains prison construction as a "solution" for surplus Americans in the age of economic downsizing, and how to deal with those who challenge the status quo. |
Updated 05/20/2006