7 ms·

No one is serving prison time for Federal marijuana possession charges. It is however a potential felony with all that entails (eg finding a job, renting a hous

by jmyeet 4y ago

No one is serving prison time for Federal marijuana possession charges. It is however a potential felony with all that entails (eg finding a job, renting a house, voting). So this is positive but there’s two things worth pointing out. 1. The core problem here is America’s scarlet letter system of being a felon. This forever makes you a second class citizen. This system needs to be reformed so that those who have served their time automatically get their record expunged; and 2. Let’s not forget that Biden was one of the chief architects of Bill Clinton’s 1994 crime bill that ushered in this era of mass incarceration and the disastrous “war on drugs”. The 1990s saw the Democratic Party hijacked by neoliberalism, which has been a disaster for working people.

shadowgovt 4y ago
> The core problem here is America’s scarlet letter system of being a felon I wish more people understood this. "Felons shouldn't get a vote" makes common sense on the surface, until one picks away the surface just a little and realizes that the easiest way to politically disenfranchise an opponent would be to gain just a little more power than them and then make something core to their identity illegal. Stripping voting rights due to a conviction for any crime is a huge incentive to wield the law as a political cudgel. (Besides, you'd think that Americans, of all people, given the way they got their country, would grok the notion that sometimes people who break the law are on the right side of history).
- theonemind 4y ago
  I think unequal enforcement of the law makes for a huge problem generally. I think we as a society should have throwing the book at legislators as the first order of business, and they should live under heavy scrutiny and enforcement of the letter of the law first.
- rodgerd 4y ago
  > "Felons shouldn't get a vote" makes common sense on the surface, until one picks away the surface just a little and realizes that the easiest way to politically disenfranchise an opponent would be to gain just a little more power than them and then make something core to their identity illegal. As an example, if you were - for example - a tech billionaire who is on the record as describing the 19th amendment as the end of freedom in the United States, and you wanted to make it impossible for as many women to vote as possible without actually fronting a repeal of that amendment, you could relentlessly support and fund efforts to make common healthcare procedures for women a felony.
codazoda 4y ago
The war on drugs started around 1971 under Nixon. Clinton added “three-strikes” in 1994.

by jmyeet 4y ago

shadowgovt 4y ago

> The core problem here is America’s scarlet letter system of being a felon I wish more people understood this. "Felons shouldn't get a vote" makes common sense on the surface, until one picks away the surface just a little and realizes that the easiest way to politically disenfranchise an opponent would be to gain just a little more power than them and then make something core to their identity illegal. Stripping voting rights due to a conviction for any crime is a huge incentive to wield the law as a political cudgel. (Besides, you'd think that Americans, of all people, given the way they got their country, would grok the notion that sometimes people who break the law are on the right side of history).

theonemind 4y ago
I think unequal enforcement of the law makes for a huge problem generally. I think we as a society should have throwing the book at legislators as the first order of business, and they should live under heavy scrutiny and enforcement of the letter of the law first.
rodgerd 4y ago
> "Felons shouldn't get a vote" makes common sense on the surface, until one picks away the surface just a little and realizes that the easiest way to politically disenfranchise an opponent would be to gain just a little more power than them and then make something core to their identity illegal. As an example, if you were - for example - a tech billionaire who is on the record as describing the 19th amendment as the end of freedom in the United States, and you wanted to make it impossible for as many women to vote as possible without actually fronting a repeal of that amendment, you could relentlessly support and fund efforts to make common healthcare procedures for women a felony.

codazoda 4y ago

The war on drugs started around 1971 under Nixon. Clinton added “three-strikes” in 1994.