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Originally Posted by Ustwo
My arguement about not allowing felons to vote is quite simple, society has proved their judgement is suspect and as such they should have no say in the government.
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So it is acceptable to remove a person's right to participate on the basis of your call on whether or not their judgement is sound?
As far as I'm concerned, there are many things that can bring one's judgement into question, but I don't take away someone's vote because of it.
When a person is incarcerated, it is to protect society from their presence, and to punish them by seperating them from being able to participate in that society. A judge sentences the convict to an appropriate period of time based on the crime, that will provide appropriate punishment. When that time is over, their sentence is complete, and they are no longer to be prevented from participation in society.
Now maybe you are not a fan of letting felons ever get out of prison, but I certainly believe that not all felonies are worthy of a life sentence. So why would we automatically pass lafe sentences on every felon in regards to voting?
Some people are not opposed to going back to literacy tests and limiting voting to those people considered to be 'of responsible character'. Personally I think that is bollocks. I certainly consider myself to be a voter of above-average awareness of the issues, and to be one who takes voting seriously and puts thought and intelligence into my choice. But I don't see this as giving me the rationale to block others from voting because I think they may not have the same level of intelligence/responsibility/knowledge/whatever that I do.
Commiting a felony is a sign of bad judgement, true, but so is becoming a problem gambler, drinking and driving, cheating on your spouse, or over-spending on your credit cards.