Quote:
Originally Posted by Kraftwerk
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I fail to see how the process of regaining voting rights should be any argument for a hypothetical passing of proposition 19 had arrests for marijuana possession not resulted in possible voters becoming felons. CA has the following listed by the US Department of Justice in reference to the ex-felon re-eligibility process:
"Automatically restored upon completion of sentence, probation and/or parole; felon must register to vote."
The 'process' is basically completing your prison sentence and parole, then registering to vote. It appears that it is no more arduous a task for an ex-felon to vote than it is for a regular citizen. Any ex-felon who did not vote on Prop 19 is no more a cause of it failing than a regular citizen who was too lazy to register to vote. The process for CA ex-felons merely involves registering, unless I am missing something here. If I am please point it out, but as far as I can see Prop 19 was not doomed to fail based on felon ineligibility.
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Right.
It was doomed to fail on the basis of group morality v. individual morality and was further hindered by apathy to the situation.
The problem is, was the vote was a strict "yes" or "no" but if the percentage was used to calibrate the laws for the individual so the state gives it a "Do it or don't it's up to you" then both sides would be happy.
But since the state best serves the interests of the state and not the individual who resides in it, legalizing marijuana would've pissed the Federal Government off so much funding would've been cut all down the list and California is one state that just cannot thrive without Federal programs.