Felons

Florida’s Discriminatory 150 Year Old Law Denying Voting Rights To Felons Who Have Paid Their Debt To Society Finally Being Challenged

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About 1.4 million Floridians are denied the right to vote, because of past criminal records, but have paid their debt to society.

This discriminatory law has been in place since 1868, as part of a racist policy during Reconstruction, designed against African Americans, and Governor Rick Scott and the Republican Florida Cabinet Officers have made it nearly impossible for any of this group to regain their voting rights, even a decade or more after having met all legal requirements to be able to have their voting rights restored.

Now there is a constitutional amendment question that will be on the Florida ballot in November, requiring 60 percent or more of those voting to support the end of this discrimination, only found also in three other states—Iowa, Kentucky, and Virginia—although the latter has had two Democratic Governors–Terry McAuliffe and Ralph Northam–who have worked on restoring rights by executive action.

Florida, as the third largest state, is an outlier on the issue, and the proposed constitutional amendment, a move done by former felons working together, seems to have a good chance of success, and particularly with the apparent popularity of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum, favored to win over Republican Ron DeSantis.

It is important to understand that anyone who has committed and been convicted of murder or rape would NOT get back their voting rights, but many felons have non violent convictions, and this is designed to restore their voting rights.

It is also ironic that about two thirds of the people who would regain their voting rights are whites, not African Americans, overcoming the stereotype that only African Americans in the past and in the present commit felonies that are non violent.

Craziness Of State Laws And State Leadership On Gun Regulation Is Mindblowing!

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Florida and Iowa allow ex felons the right to purchase guns, but make it nearly impossible for them to gain the right to vote.

Texas Governor Rick Perry and Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell want teachers to be armed when they teach their classes to students of all ages.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and Florida Governor Rick Scott see no reason to pass stronger gun laws, with both allowing concealed weapons, and Arizona allowing guns in bars and restaurants.

Other mostly “Red” states have state legislators and Congressmen and Senators totally unphased by the Sandy Hook Massacre in Connecticut.

The National Rifle Association has encouraged more purchase of guns as a safety measure, although already, there are more guns than people in America.

This country is living, at least in some parts, in their own delusional world, a world of bloodshed and violence, with people having paranoia about “enemies”, and our entire population endangered by the likelihood of continued “Sandy Hook” events in the future, and no plan to do anything constructive about it!

President Barack Obama has commissioned Vice President Joe Biden to come up with plans in the next six weeks for serious action, but the odds of actual accomplishment of goals with Republican opposition so severe, is highly speculative and unlikely!

Bill Clinton Reminds Us About “Jim Crow” Voting Restrictions On Blacks, Warns Against Them Returning!

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Former President Bill Clinton has made a major speech criticizing Republican Governors and legislatures passing restrictions on voting rights, comparing them to the old “Jim Crow” restrictions that ruled the South for nearly one hundred years until passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The new restrictions being promoted and put into law with the backing of Florida Governor Rick Scott, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Ohio Governor John Kasich, and many other Republican Governors would require drivers license ID cards to vote, shorten hours and days of early voting, require college students to vote at home instead of where they live, and restrict felons who have completed their obligation to society from being able to cast their vote. The theory is that these states are trying to prevent voter fraud, which in reality, is a very slight problem historically!

This is all designed to harm groups–African Americans, Latinos, the young, and the poor–who are perceived as likely to vote for Democrats.

Clinton reminding us of “Jim Crow” should lead to law suits to stop this new limitation and discrimination of the right to vote, something supposedly overcome by Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s as part of his Great Society.

Somehow, we seem to repeat history’s mistakes over and over again!

Republican State Governments Trying To Destroy Voting Rights Of Those Likely To Vote For Democratic Party In 2012

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In thirty two states, where the legislature is majority Republican, legislation is being sponsored to destroy the voting rights of those likely to vote for the Democratic Party and its candidates in 2012.

College students have always had the right to vote where they attend college, but many states are now working to require residency of the student or their parents, or else no chance to vote in the college town.

New ID card requirements are being imposed, which African Americans, Latinos and Hispanics, and poor people in general, are less likely to possess, with their suspicion of government as great as it is already.

The move to end same day registration is another method being used to cut down the voting population.

Florida is now requiring a five year wait before former felons, who have met all requirements of their sentence, can even ask for the return of the right to vote.

The concept of the right to vote has been fought over the past two centuries, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was supposed to guarantee that no one would be denied that right, but conservatives are working very hard to fix the elections of the future by interfering with that basic human right!

It is not enough that corporations have no limit anymore on contributions to Republicans!

It is not enough that Republican Governors are destroying the rights of public workers by destroying collective bargaining!

It is not enough that Republicans are striking out against the interests of the poor, the sick, the elderly, the young, women, ethnic minorities, and on the issues of the environment, health care and education!

Nothing is enough, as the Republican Party works to make this nation a country dominated by the rich and the corporations FOR the rich and the corporations, and to hell with the interests of the rest of us!