The irony of today’s tough-on-crime rhetoric
America faces a challenge on the issue of crime. Whether we deal with it effectively or not, however, depends on the willingness of leaders from both the left and right to drop the slogans and culture wars and truly put public safety first. "Let them go." "Lock them up." “Defund the police.” “Back the blue.” Conflicting messages from political leaders are not only confusing and divisive, they also miss the point that many people don't feel safe and want solutions that work. Regardless of the historical decline in overall crime rate — a trend that accounts for the current uptick in certain violent crimes — some are demagoguing the broader issue to usher in an era of draconian sentences under the guise of public safety. Ironically, these tough-on-crime proposals can…