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My browser is set to get the default Microsoft news feed. Today I saw this doozie of a teaser headline: Abortion, slavery and marijuana: Here are the ballot questions to watch in 2022 midterms.
Slavery? On the ballot?
It turns out that these 'slavery' issues on the ballots actually have to do with prison labor reforms. Talk about headline hyperbole. From the article:
Voters in Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont will decide whether to abolish slavery as a part of a larger criminal justice reform movement aimed at prison labor.
The 13th Amendment to the Constitution ended slavery and involuntary servitude when it was ratified in 1865. But a loophole allows it as punishment for someone convicted of a crime and roughly 20 states have a similar exception.
I know nothing about prison labor, but I do have opinions about ballot initiatives. They are complex issues reduced to simplistic emotional marketing. I've told the story before about the Florida ballot initiative regarding pig farming. It was pitched to save the poor pigs from inhuman treatment. My thought was, "what the hell do I know about pig farming?" Apparently, most voters thought they were up on the ins-and-outs of pig farming and the initiative passed. It was quite a mess untangling the problems that caused.
4 comments:
Sub-text: most likely prison laborers will need to have a living wage... in addition to their free-living conditions!
Yes, it is crazy to try to spin this as an anti-slavery issue. It probably just has to do with prisoner compensation for their work and maybe working conditions. However, it has nothing to do with slavery so to call it that is absurd and deceptive. It's what I meant by mocking ballot initiatives as simplistic emotional marketing. They'll try to get votes off of the anti-slavery sentiment when it has nothing to do with the issues at hand.
By the way, below is the text of the 13th amendment (emphasis added):
Section 1
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Also, calling the explicate language of the amendment -- "except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted" -- a loophole is more than a little disingenuous.
A loophole is more than a little disingenuous ~ maybe so, maybe not so much. I've not heard (and there's a lot I don't hear) where the loophole has been abused, or even used, unless we consider the prison work population slaves. And if they are, it's an awfully good form of slavery. If the prisoner resents it, is it the work or being told what to do?
Just thoughts, I don't do slavery. Haven't done prison either.
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