Make America Grow Again: 25 Uncomfortable Truths & Fixes: Criminal Justice Reform

America: Land of the Free… With More People in Cages Than Anywhere Else on Earth | Punishment Feels Good, But It Creates More Criminals

America’s Favorite Pastime: Punishment Over Progre

America loves to call itself “the land of the free,” yet we run the world’s largest human storage system. More people are behind bars here than in China, Russia, or any authoritarian regime we like to judge. “Tough on crime” became a political brand, not a safety strategy.

We punish poverty, addiction, mental illness, and bad luck — then act shocked when the same people come back worse. Carlin would’ve shredded this era: “We got prisons for profit! America — where suffering is a business model and punishment is a product line.” And he’d be right.

This isn’t broken. It’s working exactly as designed — just not for the people it claims to protect.

Insert visual: “A satirical map of the United States shaped like a prison, barbed wire outlining the borders, dark editorial illustration.”