if you have the stones
Sure.
North Korea is a pretty horrible place. I'd probably go so far as to say it's one of the most horrible places in the world. I mean, it's really ****ing appalling, like most, if not all, military dictatorships. Hell, it might even be worse than Belgium.
Although it's not quite on the same scale, the US, however, isn't really one to start waving it's hands in the air over human rights, is it?
Death penalty? Check.
Death penalty for crimes committed as a minor? Check, I believe, although the last execution was in 2003.
Death penalty for the mentally retarded? Only outlawed in 2002.
Torture? Check.
Kidnapping and imprisonment without due process of US and foreign nationals, both within and outside of US territory? Check.
Life imprisonment without possibility of parole for minors? Check
Spying on US and foreign citizens without due process? Check.
Highest number of prisoners WRT population on the planet? Check.
And so on.
It's worth noting that the US is the only developed country, and the only country with a functional government, not to have ratified the UNCRC.
After all, the US is one of the 2 remaining superpowers, a developed and supposedly enlightened country based on the principles of humanism and freedom. North Korea is an underdeveloped pariah state in a constant state of war, ruled by a military dictatorship without the slightest redeeming feature.
What I was really getting at, though, is that the US was the place where dissidents from behind the iron curtain dreamt of going, where they went if they had the chance. As such, it's rather ironic that a major US dissident is currently holed up in Moscow (Russia, of course, is hardly a shining example of good governance either)
Oddly enough, NK has a free public health care system, although like most things in that particular hellhole, it's crumbled to a state of almost total dysfunction and bribery is pretty much required to get even the most basic care. That's not a failure of public health care, though, it's a failure of a government that has no ****ing idea.
As for suggesting not enforcing imprisonment for minor drug offences, that's good fiscal policy. The US has enough prisoners being anally raped, already, and prosecuting people for weed possession costs a ****load.
I'm a communist, by the way. An actual, card-holding, dyed in the wool communist. Lock up your children.
