Sheryl WeikalOne thing I'm seeing proposed more and more as a prophylaxis against another Trump is to ban felons from holding public office.
And this might be an unpopular opinion, but I *hate* that plan.
Here's why.
First, I think people underestimate how many so-called felons we have in this country. The total population of people with a felony conviction in the US is larger than the population of Wisconsin. That's literally millions of people.
But here's the thing about those folks: MOST OF THEM ARE GOOD PEOPLE. I know it's easy to ask how that's possible, but here's the thing: we have the largest prison population in the world, and the largest jail population in the world, and the largest population of felons in the world.
Most of them are felons either because of the war on drugs, or because we have criminalized poverty, or because they were overcharged as a result of being Black. I'm representing people charged with felonies for protesting ICE or genocide PEACEFULLY. Those are the people you WANT in public office.
And it's also easy to say - and absolutely wrong - that if people are convicted it means they're guilty. Many people have no choice but to plead guilty to a felony to avoid a lengthy trial or prison sentence, even when they're innocent.
By contrast, most people who you DON'T want in public office - white collar criminals and sex pests - rarely if ever are charged with felonies, let alone convicted. And that's the thing: copaganda like Law and Order SVU will have you believe most felons are sexual predators.
But most felons in this country simply were convicted of too many crimes of poverty or possessing too much of a controlled substance. I had a client charged with an aggravated felony because he was a repeat offender. His crime? Stealing rotisserie chickens from a grocery store to eat,
because he couldn't get a job, because he kept getting convicted of stealing food and going to jail.
So every time I hear "ban felons from public office," I see the school to prison pipeline and the exact kind of thinking and structural racism that created Trump in the first place.
JohnI mean, Trump wasn't a felon in 2016, despite obviously being a fraud, thief, blackmailer, child rapist and human trafficker.
Literally *Trump himself* is your case in point.
Andrew C. Dingman@theleftistlawyer Even before I understood any of the structural reasons why good people end up with felony records, taking away the right to participate in politics seemed like a bad idea. If we believe in creating a more perfect union by democratic debate and discussion, shouldn't we want to hear from the people it's currently working less well for? And wouldn't that clearly include the people who can't manage to obey the current rules?
ClickyMcTicker@theleftistlawyer Even if every felon today was exempt from the law, giving the government the ability to disqualify future candidates from running is extremely dangerous.
The easiest way to never lose an election is to ban anybody else from running. You can be absolutely certain that the current president would have any viable threat to his election prosecuted until *ANYTHING* sticks.
Does anybody need proof this works? If so, may I present Figure 1: Russia.
Edelruth, PBS Passport HolderI completely agree with you
Plus, you know that if you make a rule that felons cannot run, that every promising rising star will find themselves convicted, whether real or cop-created.
Once you write that rule, that rule becomes a political weapon.
Alexander Dyas@Edelruth @theleftistlawyer Came to say this. Easy way to filter out anyone we don’t like.
Moss the Bard 🇨🇦🇧🇧🇲🇽🇬🇱@theleftistlawyer
Robert Anton Wilson often stated that the one thing you are sure to do by passing a new law is creating a new class of criminal.
Eugene V. Debs stated that as long as there are people in jail, he is ("I am") a criminal.
We have too many laws against being poor, or against the things that people do when they're desperate. We need to start passing laws that remove the desperation: Universal basic income, rent control, food and health supports. People complain about what that costs, but it's cheaper than running a police force and the jail system.
Robert Anton Wilson often stated that the one thing you are sure to do by passing a new law is creating a new class of criminal.
Eugene V. Debs stated that as long as there are people in jail, he is ("I am") a criminal.
We have too many laws against being poor, or against the things that people do when they're desperate. We need to start passing laws that remove the desperation: Universal basic income, rent control, food and health supports. People complain about what that costs, but it's cheaper than running a police force and the jail system.
@theleftistlawyer
I believe someone was quoted recently as saying that if the penalty for violating a law is a fine, that is a law against the poor.
I believe someone was quoted recently as saying that if the penalty for violating a law is a fine, that is a law against the poor.
your auntifa liza 🇵🇷 🦛 🦦@theleftistlawyer if anything, we need to fucking kill the charade of “victimless white collar crimes” and fill the prisons with capitalists and their fascist stooges.
Jacqueline@blogdiva @theleftistlawyer but but thats gommunism