Proposition 1

"The writer whose letter suggested that people should be held accountable for their own actions is right on target. I agree that if parents did the right thing and people corrected their own mistakes, we wouldn't need more programs and more taxes — regardless of how good the program goal or small the tax increase.

Wouldn't it be nice? But it's not a practical solution. If the parents of a 9-year-old choose the wrong path and become meth addicts should their failure curse their child for a lifetime? Unfortunately, when those parents fail, we are left with the cost if their offspring follows their lead. I'd rather invest in helping that child find and choose a better path than pay to incarcerate the parents and, in the future, their child as well.

We shouldn't have to pay for others' mistakes but we do and we will continue unless we can find smarter alternatives and better ways to keep people from entering our criminal justice system all together. Building more jails just can't be our only answer. Jailing is more costly and doesn't seem to change enough lives. We need a different approach and Prop. 1 offers that hope."

The above three paragraphs come from a LTE in The Olympian. I think that the whole reality of the reason to vote for Proposition 1is in paragraph 2.

Vote for prevention.