I suppose I'm using left and right as short-hand for progressive and authoritarian, but it's a bit clumsy and not that much shorter. It's an excellent article,

I suppose I'm using left and right as short-hand for progressive and authoritarian, but it's a bit clumsy and not that much shorter. It's an excellent article, but even if it is just a rhetorical position (re-reading, I accept it could be) I think it poisons the debate to the extent that nobody will engage with it. If you really want to argue in favour of releasing murderers and violent criminals from prison, it will be branded a "murderer's manifesto" and the debate is basically over. So talk about reforming the mostly futile drug laws, three-strike laws, etc, before anything else.