Soft on meth

This just in -- Mike Huckabee's opponents are attacking him for a bill he signed as governor of Arkansas that allowed convicted methamphetamine suppliers to be released from prison early for good behavior. Hence, the charge is that Huckabee is "soft on crime."

Perhaps. But also the last few weeks, Huckabee has been severely criticized by Mitt Romney and others for raising taxes in Arkansas.

I don't know if Arkansas is anything like Iowa in terms of prison populations. But if it is, then their prisons, like ours, are full. Beyond capacity. Outdated.

How do you solve that problem? Well, you build new prisons. Unfortunately, that costs hundreds of millions of dollars. Now, how do you pay for that kind of expense? Hmm .... raise taxes?

See, you can't have it both ways. Prisons, roads, schools and health care programs require money. In a small, rural state like Arkansas, economic development will bring in some funds, but taxes have to bring in the rest.

You just can't win when it comes to politics and political attacks. Admittedly, we don't like our taxes raised, and we don't like criminals to be set free without proper incarceration (and hopefully, rehabilitation). The solution to one of these issues likely comes at the price of the other.

Politicians running for office put out these sound bites and jabs, and then sit back and see what kind of damage they can do to the other candidate. That's the very reason that most American's, while caring deeply about who our President and Congressional representatives are, hate the election process.