The junior Senator from Massachusetts is at is again. Joining ranks with fellow Democrats Hillary Clinton (New York) and Barbara Boxer (California), Kerry is pushing for legislation to allow ex-cons to vote.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=512&u=
/ap/20050217/ap_on_go_co/voting_machines_clinton_1&printer=1
Has it really come to this? I know the Democrats have lost the last two elections--and worse, to an absolute imbecile--and have won just two presidential elections since 1980. I know they're not happy about being the minority party in both houses of Congress. It'd be great if they could have at least some power in the government. That I get. What I fail to understand is how a move to allow ex-cons to vote helps anybody.
Does the polling data suggest that the Democrats pull the much coveted felon vote? I guess it's a testament to how dreary things actually are when reaching out to the ex-convicts is even an option. Either that, or Washington's con-lobby is just much more powerful than I imagined.
Note to Democrats: if you're the favorite party amongst convicts, you might want to keep that one on the down low. Don't tell me that this is some noble-minded endeavor either. They want votes, plain and simple, and the party of Daly will, apparently, do anything to get them.
Here's some further advice. Relax, things will get better. I mean, just because you're wrong on every major economic issue doesn't mean that people won't vote for you. Sure, your party is so devoid of hope that all rests on young Barack Obama's shoulders, but don't think of that as a weakness.
Just tell Obama not to blow it.
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4 comments:
Ex-cons should have the right to vote. Why not? they serve their time; it doesn't mean they stop being human once they get out. Forbidding them from voting just increases their alienation from the American democracy and contributes to their feelings of hopelesness, which may lead them to commit more crimes. if ex-cons were forbidden from entering society, most of the great political leaders in the world would never have been.
I wasn't dealing with the issue of whether or not we should allow ex-cons to vote. There have been ex-cons that have risen to political power, but with the good in Ghandi you have the bad in Hitler. The point is, it's a bad--and desparate--move by the Democrats to reach out to felons.
I don't think that the revocation of suffrage is what is preventing convicts from re-entering society. They turn to crime if their criminal record prevents them from attaining a job making a sufficient wage. The right to vote will not give them a release of hopelessness. It is at best, an ineffective reach-out, at worst, a change from tradition to give that most sacred right to the vilest of the vile.
I'm just not going to lose a whole lot of sleep over the government preventing rapists and murderers from voting.
Apparently Hillary and Kerry are.
Most of the felons in the system right now are there because of drug use. Have you ever smoked pot? If so, you could be barred from voting forever. is that fair?
And Democrats are not 'reaching out' to felons, they're just testing the system to see if the US is serious about upholding our vaunted civil liberties.
When it comes to decriminalization or even downright legalization of pot, I have no arguments with you.
I would rather see the Democrats make a move to keep felons in prison, and allow harmless dope-smokers to continue to live a pretty normal life.
The system is not serious about giving civil liberties. We have falsely traded our liberties for safety, and gotten none.
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