The logical conclusion of this repressive period

Swiss deportation policy draws criticism

"The campaign poster was blatant in its xenophobic symbolism: Three white sheep kicking out a black sheep over a caption that read "for more security." The message was not from a fringe force in Switzerland's political scene but from its largest party.

The nationalist Swiss People's Party is proposing a deportation policy that anti-racism campaigners say evokes Nazi-era practices. Under the plan, entire families would be expelled if their children are convicted of a violent crime, drug offenses or benefits fraud."

And it's so nice to see journalists beginning to draw these obvious parallels:

"Ronnie Bernheim of the Swiss Foundation against Racism and Anti-Semitism said the proposal was similar to the Nazi practice of "Sippenhaft" — or kin liability — whereby relatives of criminals were held responsible for his or her crimes and punished equally.

Similar practices occurred during Stalin's purges in the early days of the Soviet Union and the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution in China, when millions were persecuted for their alleged ideological failings.

'As soon as the first 10 families and their children have been expelled from the country, then things will get better at a stroke,' said Maurer, whose party controls the Justice Ministry and shares power in an unwieldy coalition that includes all major parties.

He explained that his party has long campaigned to make deportation compulsory for convicted immigrants rather than an optional and rarely applied punishment.'

This is the logical conclusion of the current zeitgeist.

And the irony?

During this same period of crackdowns and a criminal justice policy for James Q. Wilson to-die-for, crime is up all over the world.

Foreign Policy Magazine reports it as The Hidden Pandemic. Trends for violent crime in the U.S. are up for 2005 and 2006. As I have more time, I might continue searching for comparable Swiss crime figures (I've looked for half an hour and hit dead ends for recent trends for 2005 and 2006; Wikipedia shows a drop in criminal convictions for 2005, but also reports an overall increase without documentation of statistics for 2006).

But the general trends in crime policy and international security policy are unmistakable, by my lights. More repressive criminal justice and security policies and more failure, generally, in criminal justice and international security efforts.

Crime is up worldwide and in the U.S., after a 40 year low in the murder rate. Iran is pursuing the bomb more ambitiously than when that confrontation began. North Korean denuclearization only got on track with more diplomacy and kept sputtering off-track with more pressure. The war in Iraq serves as one long object lesson on the wisdom of forcing democratic virtues onto a population.

As a teacher and an authority figure - especially as a teacher for the most poorly behaving kids in schools; I teach high school social studies at an alternative school for kids who have been removed from mainstream public school situations - I do know how difficult it is as an authority figure to reconsider a strategy for creating order for behavior when I've invested in it. I have a 4th hour, right now, that I have been tightening up because of serious behavior problems from our first day, and I reflect every day on what is or might be working well and what is not or might not be working so well.

But I also hold myself to the highest standards of empirical observation of when we are making progress and when we are not.

And the results of the current crime and security strategies of liberal democratic countries, nevertheless illiberal and less democratic or undemocratic countries, do not bear out a case for substantial progress in improving important indices.

If I am wrong about that, I need to hear or read a stronger case for that claim than I have been reading or hearing up till now.

In the meantime, the Swiss policy is exactly the logic that most of the world's criminal and security policies have been premised upon in the last 7 years or so.

It is ugly. And it is the logical conclusion of this repressive period.

Stubbornness. Self-righteousness. Pride. It is the deadliest sin because it is the mistake that keeps in place every other mistake. It is the most serious mistake because it means denying every other mistake. And it is responsible for the most serious and tragic mistakes in human history because is the source of all of the lying and pretending so that everything looks like it is better than it is.

Pride is the source of current zeitgeist in public policy. Because no matter how much it fails, its apologists defend it. And the repression that fails us so miserably is what makes it so difficult to talk about all of our mistakes more openly and honestly.

Some people you would assume prefer failure, given their pride.

But pride is the source of all of our failures and shortcomings, is the truth.

And it is more common than any of us would like to admit. Not just to all of those living today, but to every generation.

Hubris, the Greeks whisper. Hubris.

Love,
Ben