With Edwards out of the race, I am finding myself having some difficulty picking a candidate to support. I had previously assumed that it wouldn't much matter what my opinion was, since these things are usually decided pretty early on, but it seems that this year it's not the case.
So I think my best function at this time is to bring up some issues important to me that are rarely (read: never) addressed in election campaigns. I have one issue that falls into this category that is very, very important to me, and very personal: the treatment of ex-cons.
Hilary and Obama have been pushed into some very populist stances. They both speak about "invisible Americans" - usually meaning the poor. However, ex-cons are, perhaps, the most invisible of all Americans.
As I've mentioned now in comments on another thread by Liberal Jim, my fiance is an ex-con. Liberal Jim wrote an excellent post about second chances (and the lack thereof) available here in the United States.
Ryan, my fiance, and I have had an interesting hurdle to overcome this year: the election cycle. As may be obvious by my presence here: I'm into politics. When Ryan and I first got together, he swore up and down that he hated politics. Which, it's becoming apparent, isn't true.
It's simply easier for him to ignore elections than care about something he has no voice in. Ryan, you see, can't vote. He's never voted. He was in jail when he was 16, lost his voting rights before he ever had them. Then he gets out and discovers that he's become a second-class citizen. He's still a second-class citizen and he could remain a second-class citizen for the rest of his life.
According to the ACLU diary, the US is unique among western nations in its denial of voting rights to ex-cons. This simultaneously blows my mind and gives me some small comfort. I'd often imagined this to be an issue doomed because most people reject it the minute you get to the phrase "rights for ex-cons." But if other western nations return ex-con's rights, there may be hope. This aversion isn't hardwired into democratic societies: some recognize that felons are people too.
Liberal Jim's thread about second chances was spot on: there are practically no second chances in America. Land of Opportunity my dimpled butt. You walk out of jail in debt, you need a permanent address not co-occupied by any other ex-cons (which is, in some cases, the only people you know...or the only people who'll have anything to do with you), and you need a job. Oh, but the only people who'll hire you pay minimum wage, because they know you can't get any other jobs.
This is going to become more and more of an issue. Children are getting arrested younger and younger for infractions that would have been dealt with outside the system as little as five years ago. The prison population grew steadily from 1994 to 2004 and they weren't all sentenced to life without parole. They're going to be getting out. We can either welcome them, help them integrate back into law abiding society, or we can shun them, leave them with few options as attractive as returning to the "only life they know" - crime.
If you're treated like a criminal, it doesn't take long until you think of yourself as a criminal and re-offend.
I want there to be discussion about this. This is an issue that rarely gets discussed at all.
So I shall give you all something to argue about.
Ex-cons should regain their voting rights immediately after they finish their prison term or parole.
Employers should not be able to look at anyone's criminal record older than three years. That's three years after they finish their parole successfully. Three years of not committing any other crimes, of keeping your nose clean and working your butt off.
And, as much as I personally dislike guns -- I believe that if someone completes their prison term, has paid their debt to society in full, then they should regain the right to legally own a hand gun. I say hand gun because in my state I believe ex-cons are still allowed to own rifles, dunno what the laws are in other states. I'd say a waiting period of 5 years should be sufficient for this.
And, lastly, no, we won't ever hear anything publically from either candidate about this, unless it's to argue that the laws should stand as they are. You certainly can't come out for felon's rights and get elected for...well...anything really.
There are a lot of important issues this election cycle that have to be discussed. This issue is just as important, has been important for decades. Will one of our candidates stand up for an immediate change in the dialogue and dare to bring it up?