We are fast approaching a national epidemic of prison overpopulation. It is a fact that no other country in the world incarcerates as many people as America. NO OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD! Even China, with four times the population comes in second to the good ol' US of A. That equates to 1 in every 31 Americans being entangled by the justice system. We are currently incarcerating 2.4 million people, with well over 1 million non-violent offenders alone locked up in our prisons.

The reasons are as varied as those incarcerated; longer sentences for first time offenses, a parole and probation system that is set up for failure, budget cuts which results in program cuts, virtually non-existant reentry programs, and an ever increasingly stiffer application of sentencing and release laws. And then of course, there are the witch hunts. You know what I'm talking about....in the 60's the focus was anti-government groups and psychedelic drugs. In the 70's it was the pot head and the serial killers of the decade. Then in the 80's we were taking down the cocaine dealers and the white supremacist groups, while in the 90's it was the ones cookin' crack and the biker gangs. The 2000's brought us the street gangs and the vast array of sex offenders, and now it's lookin' like it's a prescription drug and an immigrant issue. Every decade has to have some people group to hang their woes and failures on. The result has been much of the general population jumping on the anti-crime bandwagon and turning in anyone who remotely looks like a criminal. Between 1970 and 2005 alone, the number of men women and children being imprisoned has grown by a sickening 700%! What do you say to that? I mean really, what is left to say?

We are a society of much judgement and little grace who tend to think that more laws will solve the problems at hand. We are obsessed with making sure those who have broken any letter of the law be punished to the ninth degree. But what we fail to understand is that more laws and stricter sentences aren't going to solve the problem. What we are dealing with is far greater a problem than any law of the land could ever hope to solve or prevent. It is the moral decay of a nation. And the truth of its decomposition is evident in the spiritual death of our people. There is nothing sacred anymore. Nothing that is untouchable. Blame it on the the times. Blame it on this generation or the last. Blame it on your parents. Blame it on an insistance on being "politically correct". Blame it on the aire of compromise that is sucking the life from each one of us. Blame it on the government. Blame it on the spoiled adults of our nation screaming for the freedom to be able to do life their way. Wherever you choose to lay the blame doesn't matter. The fact is, we need to do that ever so rare thing and take responsibility for the outcome, because folks, we have a problem, and we as a people are to blame.

So the $100,000 question is, how do you fix the problem? What do you do? What can any one person do against a government hell bent on the destruction of it's people, and the people hell bent on their own self destruction? Let me remind you that anything that ever had any impact on this world that we live in, started with one person asking that very question! So welcome to the melting pot of great thinkers! The fact is that it only takes any one of us to make a difference. Reform starts with identifying the problem and taking the initiative to try to find a solution. It can be done on a national level through our governmental system or on a state level with our governmental system. It can be done one on one through volunterisim, alone or with a group of like minded individuals. It can be done by educating those in your community to the facts rather than by feeding into the fear. It can be done through the written word, the visual picture, print, web, billboards. It can be done through music, art, or back breaking labor working side by side with those incarcerated or their families. It can be done by voting, getting laws introduced, getting laws repealed. It can be done by hiring a felon, visiting an inmate, offering your time, or networking within your sphere of influence. The possibilities of change for any one of us are limited only by our own lack....lack of imagination, lack of willingness, lack of desire, lack of motivation, lack of conscience, lack of heart.

So, do you want to be part of the problem or part of the solution?
Will you wait til tomorrow or start today?
The choice is yours.
Do your homework.
Pray.
Then follow where God leads.