This part of the rebuttal just KILLS me:
""The U.S. has high crime rates but we spend a lot on law enforcement and prison...Should we spend less? We're just a different kind of country. We have higher drug use rates, a higher crime rate, many things that go with a highly free and mobile society.""
Well, of course! We SHOULD spend less on police and prison and put that money towards preventing crime in ways that WORK, such as education, including adult education, and urban revitalization projects. Many crimes that result in jail time (with the exception of possession of drugs) are a DIRECT result of economic desperation, a feeling of hopelessness/disenfranchisement, and nothing better to do. Someone with a career, responsibilities, and dreams is not going to feel the need to rob a convenience store.
I just can't believe how badly there is a failure in our government, the current administration in particular, to see the forest for the trees.