2020 Presidential Election

[kittygrrl]

Bernie's support of felons serving out their sentence should have the right to vote is nuts.

[Martina]

Every American citizen should have the right to vote.

[MsTinkerbelly]

Originally Posted by Martina

Every American citizen should have the right to vote.

I have to agree with you Martina!

A felon is paying for a crime by serving time in a prision facility, the felon did not lose their citizenship because they are paying for or have paid for a crime. What does that really say to people...”you have to follow the rules, pay for your crime, and then become a non person?”

[cathexis]

Originally Posted by MsTinkerbelly

I have to agree with you Martina!

A felon is paying for a crime by serving time in a prision facility, the felon did not lose their citizenship because they are paying for or have paid for a crime. What does that really say to people...”you have to follow the rules, pay for your crime, and then become a non person?”

Sometimes, concepts that others see as correct paths, seem tortuous and illogical to me. The felon, serving or who has served time in prison, is still a citizen. Why take certain civil rights away from people that the corrections system is attempting to "rehabilitate?" Should we, instead, be "role models," exhibiting "good American citizen behavior?" It is known that people involved in criminal activities do not vote in large numbers.

Also, here's a PI idea in the tone of Jonathan Swift. Perhaps, the Feds could begin administering Intelligence and Common Sense tests to ALL citizens registering to vote...no...in elementary school. Common sense testing might help us avoid some of the nitwit imbeciles who elect Presidents like Tr**p.

[C0LLETTE]

If Trump isn't paying Kellyanne Conway at least $5,000,000 per year, he is seriously underpaying her. She easily runs roughshod over every "adversarial" interviewer, particularly on CNN.

I don't even know why they invite her. She's a spewing propaganda machine that skillfully sidesteps all their questions and then floods out all her irrelevant talking points without taking an interruptible breath.

It's painful to watch.

[MsTinkerbelly]

Originally Posted by C0LLETTE

If Trump isn't paying Kellyanne Conway at least $5,000,000 per year, he is seriously underpaying her. She easily runs roughshod over every "adversarial" interviewer, particularly on CNN.

I don't even know why they invite her. She's a spewing propaganda machine that skillfully sidesteps all their questions and then floods out all her irrelevant talking points without taking an interruptible breath.

It's painful to watch.

We had to stop watching CNN...partially for this reason, and partially because i no longer care for the constant bickering. I read and watch a variety of news sources, but my go to top 2 are Fox News and MSNBC (love me some RM), although the BBC news is sometimes a better source of reality.

Kelly Ann has always been a source of frustration for me, and life is too short to give the bitch my attention.

On a side note, I find it refreshing that Mayor Pete is not shying away from talking about religion...so many in this country (especially middle America) find their religion to be interwoven in all areas of their lives.

They may not like the gay, but he can talk to their fears about the “commies” making everyone Muslim. **

** I have relatives that actually believe that crap.

[dark_crystal]

Originally Posted by MsTinkerbelly

I have to agree with you Martina!

A felon is paying for a crime by serving time in a prision facility, the felon did not lose their citizenship because they are paying for or have paid for a crime. What does that really say to people...”you have to follow the rules, pay for your crime, and then become a non person?”

IMO when crime and punishment issues can only voted on by people who have never committed a crime or been punished, that is a recipe for inhumane treatment, and more crime

[kittygrrl]

I think if you've murdered someone you don't deserve to vote..because the person you've murdered won't ever ever ever get the chance to do something in this world again. You should lose that privilege and a few more. Sorry, if you disagree, but serving time will never make up for that loss to a family or the country. Other then that non violent crimes i'm fine with them retaining voting rights.

[MsTinkerbelly]

Originally Posted by kittygrrl

I think if you've murdered someone you don't deserve to vote..because the person you've murdered won't ever ever ever get the chance to do something in this world again. You should lose that privilege and a few more. Sorry, if you disagree, but serving time will never make up for that loss to a family or the country. Other then that non violent crimes i'm fine with them retaining voting rights.

Not picking on you, just musing.....

Say you are right...what else shouldn’t they be able to do?

Drive a car?
Get married?
Have children?
Get life saving surgery?

I mean, of all the things their victim can never do again, we pick voting? Most felons will get out of prision, even murderers. They will have paid their debt as society decided it should be, so they keep on paying in an “eye for an eye” kind of trade-off?

Like I said, just musing.....

[C0LLETTE]

So, I did a bit of research on whether "citizenship" is a right or a privilege and found this:

"Citizenship is understood as a "right to have rights" since it serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States, such as the right to freedom of expression, vote, due process, live and work in the United States, and to receive federal assistance."
(Anonymously posted)

So, it would seem that to revoke someone's right to vote, you'd have to first go through the process of revoking their citizenship.

The Rights and Responsibilities of Canadian Citizens are outlined/defined somewhat differently and on the basis of a Charter. The issue of prisoners voting was settled by the Supreme Court in 2002.

Kathleen Harris · CBC News · Posted: Aug 25, 2015 :

"More than 22,000 federal inmates eligible to vote ...

Polling stations will be set up in Canadian prisons on Oct. 9 so inmates can exercise their right to vote.

When Canadians vote in the federal election in October, thousands will cast their ballot from behind bars.

Inmates in federal prisons and provincial jails are eligible to vote for a candidate in the riding where they lived before they were incarcerated.

In the last federal election in 2011, voter turnout was 54 per cent in penitentiaries, not far below the 61 per cent who exercised their democratic right in the general population.


"They are part of the polity and they want to be part of the democratic process," Catherine Latimer, executive director of The John Howard Society of Canada, told CBC News.

Prisoners are informed voters, advocate says

Because prisoners have time to read and watch television news, they are just as informed - if not even more so - than Canadian voters on the outside, she said. Kits will also be distributed to help them with the voting process.

A 2002 Supreme Court of Canada judgment gave federal prisoners the right to vote on constitutional grounds, ruling 5-4 that voting is a fundamental right in a democracy.

[kittygrrl]

Originally Posted by MsTinkerbelly

Not picking on you, just musing.....

Say you are right...what else shouldn’t they be able to do?

Drive a car?
Get married?
Have children?
Get life saving surgery?

I mean, of all the things their victim can never do again, we pick voting? Most felons will get out of prision, even murderers. They will have paid their debt as society decided it should be, so they keep on paying in an “eye for an eye” kind of trade-off?

Like I said, just musing.....

Ms Tinkerberry, I always enjoy hearing your thoughts! As to your musings...as to what other things i think a murderer should not have access to...I haven't given it that much thought but lets start with guns, running for a public office, having custody of minor children in a divorce settlement..at least...you bought up paying for their crimes, but exactly how can you pay for taking a life???..will serving a sentence restore that person's life? There is nothing that this person can ever do to repay that debt. And while it's just my perspective, I'm very comfortable living with it. I don't want a known murderer living next door to me. Not very woke, I suppose but i would feel threaten ...