There are two ways to deal with crime: the irrational way and the rational way.

The way promoted by the right – the irrational way – is fueled by fear. This fear is accompanied by a black-and-white view of the world, a perspective so ideologically distorted that it views people in two categories: the bad guys and the good guys.

In this right-wing vision, the best way to deal with the bad guys – mostly the poor, recent immigrants, and aboriginals – is very simple: more police, longer jail sentences and helicopters.

Basically, they advocate any draconian measure they can think up.

Mayor Sam Katz boasts the promise of 58 more police officers to Winnipeg’s police force, bringing a helicopter to Winnipeg and creating a new SWAT team.
He has stated that “(Winnipeggers) no longer want to be prisoners in their own homes.”

Like a magician waving his wand, he conjures up a fantasy Winnipeg where good citizens are locked inside, afraid of the villainous and chaotic wilderness outside.
This kind of fear-mongering is a cynical manipulation of reality, an example of demagoguery you might find in a dictionary.

Katz is endorsed by Conservative Member of Parliament Steven Fletcher, who once said, “I am happy to be part of the government that is leading the charge against those who would threaten the safety of our communities.”

The federal Conservative government has introduced harsher punishments for youth offenders, even though youth crime has gone down in recent years.

Fletcher is a man very proud of the fact that his party has spent between $10 and 13 billion dollars on completely unnecessary and useless super-prisons, amongst other measures, in the recently instituted Bill C-25.

Instead of primarily focusing on an objective analysis of crime, Katz and his Conservative buddies like Fletcher offer an easy solution to their black-and-white problem: more punishment.

“ Like a magician waving his wand, Katz conjures up a fantasy Winnipeg where good citizens are locked inside, afraid of the villainous and chaotic wilderness outside

The illusion is very enticing – it helped Katz win the mayoral election in 2004 and a landslide re-election in 2006.

The trouble for Katz et al is that they base such arguments upon an illusion. People can’t be fooled forever and as they hear more about the exaggerated nature of violence and crime, they begin to catch on.

In the real world, people don’t commit crimes because of any inherent tendency to do so – they do so because of external social and economic pressures.

For instance, impoverished youth who lack jobs, community services and after-school programs are inclined to engage in gang activity.

The best way to deal with crime is not to be hard on the individual – an individual pressured by social and economic forces beyond his or her control – but rather to be hard on crime itself.

On Oct. 27 we will not be choosing between two candidates, but rather between two Winnipegs: an imaginary Winnipeg made up of fear and prejudice, and a Winnipeg that that exists in the real world.

I hope we make the right decision.

Gregory Furmaniuk is a first year student at the University of Winnipeg involved in local progressive politics.

Published in Volume 65, Number 7 of The Uniter (October 14, 2010)