Pleasing the most people for the most time is the number one priority, there is something wrong with this picture. I have often held that we ought to create legislation that recognized that if any person showed any interest in a political office, he or she should be disqualified from holding that office - so much for professional politicians. People should be dragged kicking and screaming into the Whitehouse, not spending tens of millions of dollars seeking the position. Let's drag Walter Cronkite out of retirement and make him President. He doesn't want the job, is popular, and would probably do a darn good job.
Social structures die hard.
Changing, even abolishing social structures takes time and effort. The prison Industrial Complex is a social structure of grand scale. It has only recently come into focus as a reality in American society. I often receive looks of incredulity when I speak about this man-made structure which self perpetuates imprisonment at an ever growing rate in America. We now have over 2.2 million people, human beings, citizens, behind bars in America.