Dealing With Felons, British Style

I have been reading Jeffrey Archer’s book Prison Diary. Archer is a convicted felon who nonetheless sits in the upper house of the British legislature. On p. 128n he says:

“[In Britain] convicted prisoners, members of the House of Lords, and certified lunatics are ineligible to vote. I now qualify in two of the three categories.”

Well, Jeff, two out of three ain’t bad. I can’t help thinking what a waste, though. In this country we keep felons in the Congress with high salaries and loads of self-conferred perks until they get caught. Then we throw them away and get a new batch of felons in there. It all seems so inefficient. The British put their felons in the House of Lords, convicted or not. If they get sent to prison while members of the House of Lords, not to worry. Their seats are waiting for them when they get out of prison. Instead of tsk tsking about how businesses won’t hire former jailbirds, why don’t we do what the British do?

Dick Cheney can’t hire all of them.