You ask, I answer: Political Edition!

[teaberryblue]

In the spirit of Election Day, I thought this would be fun.

Ask me a question about my political beliefs. I will do my best to answer them. They can be on anything from big stuff like civil rights to little things like state tax issues to personal things like political moments that shaped my views.

This is not a place for debate or disagreement. I am going to be completely honest and that might mean that my views might piss someone off. I will ask you to contain your pissed-offedness and not debate in this post. Post your own post if you want to discuss. I usually like to debate but I don't want this idea to turn into that, not because I want to silence anybody, but because I want to keep it on the original subject.

Comments

[rosefox]

What's your position on felon disenfranchisement, especially given the disproportionate disenfranchising of black and Hispanic men due to drug-related felony convictions?

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

I was actually talking to someone about this earlier today. I know a number of people who have been convicted of felonies that are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things.

While part of this is clearly related to what I believe is an imbalance in how drug-related and some other crimes are treated compared to violent crimes (possession with intent to sell is a felony, while manslaughter is a misdemeanor!), and to what I believe is an imbalance in how black and Hispanic people are charged in drug crimes compared to white people, that doesn't, to me, mean that a felon doesn't deserve the same rights as everyone else even if that imbalance were righted.

So you're dealing with two issues. One is inequity in our criminal justice system. That needs to be dealt with. The other is whether felons who have served their sentence should be held to a different standard/given the same rights as people who have not been convicted as a felony, even if the playing field is in all other ways equal (which it is not). While I do think it is all right to have a different set of expectations for someone who has been convicted of a felony in terms of things like checking in with a parole officer, I think taking away rights is not. I don't understand why felons can't vote. The only group of citizens whom I think should reasonably be barred from voting are people who have actually participated in election-related crimes. I'm a big believer than the punishment should fit the crime, so: if you tamper with an election, your right to vote could reasonably be taken away, and I wouldn't object. However, why someone who was caught selling marijuana shouldn't be allowed to tick off a ballot eludes me: selling drugs does not in any way make me doubt someone's ability to participate in the electoral process. The fact that certain groups in the US who are already consistently and systemically intimidated out of voting are disproportionately affected by this disenfranchisement means that maintaining that disenfranchisement for any reason is essentially a form of election fraud.

[sdaisyk.livejournal.com]

On the whole, I believe felons should be able to vote. On a personal note, I am pretty dang happy to know a certain felon ex-boyfriend can't vote but that's for reason unrelated to the whole being a felon thing.

On our local ballot was an admendment to ban anyone convict of a felony from being allowed to be sheriff. What do you think of that?

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

I think it's preposterous, for the reason above.A past "criminal" record, especially if the crime is clearly one where they were charged much more harshly than they should have been, because of racial discrimination, or one that they committed a long time in their past, should not hinder them from being permitted to run for an elected position. They're just running, they're not being handed the position without having to stand up and explain their platform and any past problems with the law. I think a voting public can judge whether someone who has a felony is capable of holding the position of Sheriff-- if they're not, I would think the electorate would vote against them. But we need to allow people to make that decision.

[sdaisyk.livejournal.com]

It passed 80something percent for it.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

That's terrible! Seriously, to me, people are going to be voting in elections. They should realize that they have the ability to vote against someone with a felony record.