HOLY GRAIL OF THE LEFT

California’s governor has proposed a constitutional amendment that would dedicate at least 10 percent of the state general fund to the University of California and California State University systems and LIMIT PRISON SPENDING TO NO MORE THAN SEVEN PERCENT. That just about reverses the amounts in those lines from this year's California budget. He pointed out that the state now spends 45% more for prison operations than for higher education, a reversal from "traditional" funding ratios.

I strongly believe that Schwarzenegger’s foolish proposal, if approved, will only lead to more early releases of prison inmates and result in endangering the safety of the public. Here is Paco’s illuminating take on the left’s mantra that higher education is the cure to a high black crime rate:

EXPERTS LAUD SCHWARZENEGGER’S PLAN TO SHIFT PRISON FUNDS TO UNIVERSITIES

PacoVilla’s Corrections blog
January 7, 2010

And so it is, GA$ [Gov. Schwarzenegger] abandons all pretense of Conservatism by embracing the Holy Grail of the Left: Education cures all.

The notion a nexus exists between a higher education and crime control is an absurdity. Yet, it is the mantra of the Left. Why is that?

It's no secret our universities are incubators of Leftist activism. The President himself is the beneficiary of a public-subsidized degree...small wonder he thinks it's such a hot idea. How better to indoctrinate the unwashed masses than a 4 year bath with Karl Marx?

Obama is on record asserting a college degree should be guaranteed to all Americans. This is particularly remarkable within the context of the nation's unemployment rate: The college educated enjoy the highest increase in joblessness during this recession.

The demand for skilled and semi-skilled labor has outpaced domestic supply for decades. Yet, vocational and technical training received short shrift from our "leaders." At the same time, college enrollment increased across the board. Most notably, COLLEGE ENROLLLMENT AMONG BLACKS INCREASED 122 PERCENT OVER THE PAST 20 YEARS. Concurrently, the incarceration rate among blacks increased exponentially:

After more than a decade in which the Black incarceration rate increased by an average of 138.4 per 100,000 per year, more than doubling the number of Blacks in federal custody between 1980 and 1992, the Black incarceration rate continued to increase by an average of 100.4 per 100,000 during the Clinton era...(FinalCall.com 3/6/2001)

How can this be? If higher education is prophylactic to criminality, should not the black incarceration rate have dipped?