If you think prison is a rehabilitating measure instead of a punishment, preventing former felons from voting doesn't make any sense. They have paid their dues and are, by all accounts, full...
If you think prison is a rehabilitating measure instead of a punishment, preventing former felons from voting doesn't make any sense. They have paid their dues and are, by all accounts, full citizens. This is absolutely unacceptable. I just checked and here in my country you're only prevented to vote if you're a convicted felon and imprisoned on election day. I actually think they should be able to vote from inside... It would be great if politicians had to listen to the concerns of the prison population.
Can you explain the your end* statement? That seems like such a backwards idea to me. Former felons? Absolutely. Current? Definitely not. *meant end, wrote 3rd
Can you explain the your end* statement? That seems like such a backwards idea to me. Former felons? Absolutely. Current? Definitely not.
this assumes we're talking about the "I actually think they should be able to vote from inside... It would be great if politicians had to listen to the concerns of the prison population."...
Can you explain the your third statement? That seems like such a backwards idea to me. Former felons? Absolutely. Current? Definitely not.
this assumes we're talking about the "I actually think they should be able to vote from inside... It would be great if politicians had to listen to the concerns of the prison population." statement, but unless we're just straight up not counting incarcerated prisoners as people anymore, why should current prisoners not have their concerns also recognized and listened to by the politicians that represent them, assuming they're given the right to vote (which they should, because felony disenfranchisement is bullshit, we don't de jure take away really any other right from people who are incarcerated, and states which have completely abolished it have no problems)? there are plenty of major, institutional problems with prisons and how prisoners are treated in the united states that we straight up do not give the time of day because prisoners "deserve it" or which we literally make punchlines out of (like prison rape), which would probably then be addressed if politicians had to also answer to prisoners.
I completely agree. An additional argument is that normalizing the disenfranchisement of felons gives the government a perverse incentive: instead of dealing with a dissenting population, they can...
I completely agree. An additional argument is that normalizing the disenfranchisement of felons gives the government a perverse incentive: instead of dealing with a dissenting population, they can make some correlate of that population illegal to disenfranchise them. And, this isn't just theoretical:
The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.
This is still evident in the racial proportions of prisons today, and who politically benefits from those proportions (hint: the powerful). Those in prison are some of the most physically and politically vulnerable people in the government's care. It is very dangerous to also not make the government accountable to them.
If you think prison is a rehabilitating measure instead of a punishment, preventing former felons from voting doesn't make any sense. They have paid their dues and are, by all accounts, full citizens. This is absolutely unacceptable. I just checked and here in my country you're only prevented to vote if you're a convicted felon and imprisoned on election day. I actually think they should be able to vote from inside... It would be great if politicians had to listen to the concerns of the prison population.
Can you explain the your end* statement? That seems like such a backwards idea to me. Former felons? Absolutely. Current? Definitely not.
*meant end, wrote 3rd
this assumes we're talking about the "I actually think they should be able to vote from inside... It would be great if politicians had to listen to the concerns of the prison population." statement, but unless we're just straight up not counting incarcerated prisoners as people anymore, why should current prisoners not have their concerns also recognized and listened to by the politicians that represent them, assuming they're given the right to vote (which they should, because felony disenfranchisement is bullshit, we don't de jure take away really any other right from people who are incarcerated, and states which have completely abolished it have no problems)? there are plenty of major, institutional problems with prisons and how prisoners are treated in the united states that we straight up do not give the time of day because prisoners "deserve it" or which we literally make punchlines out of (like prison rape), which would probably then be addressed if politicians had to also answer to prisoners.
I see. Thank you for the explanation!
Michael Moore visits a Norwegian prison.
I completely agree. An additional argument is that normalizing the disenfranchisement of felons gives the government a perverse incentive: instead of dealing with a dissenting population, they can make some correlate of that population illegal to disenfranchise them. And, this isn't just theoretical:
- John Ehrlichman, counsel and Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs under President Richard Nixon
This is still evident in the racial proportions of prisons today, and who politically benefits from those proportions (hint: the powerful). Those in prison are some of the most physically and politically vulnerable people in the government's care. It is very dangerous to also not make the government accountable to them.
Yep. That's about it.
FFS, the amendment was passed by a 2-1 margin by the people. Now they're really trying to diminish that