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conulyFrom an article on inmate voting in the Times...
"I just was horrified when I realized they could vote," said Mary Black Andrews, a state representative from York, Me., whose first husband was a Maine state trooper who was shot and killed in the line of duty. "I just don't think that they deserve that right if they've been convicted of a violent crime."
*blinks*
I'm sorry, please explain the logic. Somebody commits a violent crime and suddenly their ability to reason is horrifically impaired AND they have no stake in this country at all?
Moreover, rights aren't something you deserve or earn. They're something you get just by being there.
I'm not arguing about this, seriously. I'm sure people can come up with many more coherant arguments against inmate voting than how "horrified" you are. I'll just sit here and stew a while.
"I just was horrified when I realized they could vote," said Mary Black Andrews, a state representative from York, Me., whose first husband was a Maine state trooper who was shot and killed in the line of duty. "I just don't think that they deserve that right if they've been convicted of a violent crime."
*blinks*
I'm sorry, please explain the logic. Somebody commits a violent crime and suddenly their ability to reason is horrifically impaired AND they have no stake in this country at all?
Moreover, rights aren't something you deserve or earn. They're something you get just by being there.
I'm not arguing about this, seriously. I'm sure people can come up with many more coherant arguments against inmate voting than how "horrified" you are. I'll just sit here and stew a while.
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no subject
Date: 2004-11-01 12:12 am (UTC)In Britain,felons do not vote, niether do those registered as mentally ill, nor anyone who sits in the House of Lords (and this puts them in good company, some suggest). However, upon release, felons are deemed to have 'paid their debt' to society and are allowed to take up all the rights and prvileges of full citizenship.
I understand that in some States, those who have been convicted can never vote again. As the poor are more likely to get a conviction, this weighs heavily against the Democrats.