Bernie Sanders advocates voting rights for incarcerated criminals...

[unblock]

65. fringe? government answers to "we the people", not "we the people who abide by government's rules"

the fringe idea is that government should be able to pick and choose its voters. that's *obviously* a recipe for terrible, corrupt government.

and, in fact, laws have been passed and enforced in a way that serves the interests of politicians. it's not a coincidence that republicans love the ability to disenfranchise black voters literally be the millions.

the reality is that voting rights should have *nothing* to do with the criminal justice system.

no criminal is going to be deterred by the prospect of losing voting rights if caught and found guilty and convicted.
no criminal is going to be rehabilitated by temporarily losing their voting rights.
not that i believe much in "victims' rights", but no victim is going to be made to feel better by taking away a criminal's voting rights.

the *only* people this concept serves are the politicians who decide who gets to vote and who doesn't.


now, i do get that we live in a society that likes to be vindictive when it comes to criminals, so pushing the idea that "everyone votes", by trying to be sympathetic to the plight of felons isn't going to work. fine. but if phrased as a matter of anti-corruption, of not trusting government, of "no one has the right to take away anyone's vote", i think that would work fine.


people died for the right to vote, and by the way, a lot of them broke laws in the process.