Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/01/23/why-arent-more-conservatives.html
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Because ideology is all too often a fig leaf over a partisan gang mentality by a group that doesn’t experience cognitive dissonance?
… just guessing …
Voting rights are absolute in 
guaranteed by a constitution that the courts uphold. The Supreme Court of Canada decided in 2001 that voting rights cannot be removed.
I’m guessing prisoners have some advantage of a bit more time on their hands to weigh the issues… I’d love to see a study to see how considered their votes are. 
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It’s just possible that conservatives think that felons are proportionately more likely to be dark skinned individuals.
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Because racism
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The irrefutable unequal arrest, prosecution and sentencing of POC means they’re over-represented in the population of those with felony convictions. And POC recognize that the GOP has long since become the party of white nationalism. Rationally, they tend to vote against the GOP. Ergo, the GOP has a vested interested in depriving them of their franchise.
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40 million ÷ ½ million = 8000 percent
It makes even MORE sense 
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Although the white guys in prison are far more likely to be neo-nazis which is an extremely solid Republican voting base.
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Sure, except there are more minorities jailed than not so seems that stripping voting rights to felons is specifically meant to tip things in favor for Republicans. Especially when you consider that police like to target minorities.
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I was reading the post and my immediate thought was two-fold; they consistently show an utter lack of empathy, combined with the belief that they aren’t going to be a convict at some point.
“Convicts? Fuck ‘em.”
I feel like that also ties to how many of them turn their backs on abuses by the prison system against the inmates, and the abuse of ex-cons by society once they are released.
But I could be wrong.
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Because conservatives are heavily invested in the concept that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. This is why they believe rich people are better than poor people. It also means that if you’re a felon, you’re a piece of shit who doesn’t deserve to be treated like a human being any more.
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I ask this question to conservatives I meet, since it would seem to me that any libertarian-leaning person should be outraged by felon disenfranchisement. I think it’s a mix of things.
Now let’s imagine a completely hypothetical scenario in which a tyrannical majority enacts laws that deliberately target minorities— in this case, let’s say white Evangelical Christian men
Part of the equation is that they fundamentally don’t believe black folks are targeted by lawmakers and
law enforcement.
A good number explicitly think that, and I am sure try to spread that belief. Dovetails with the lack of belief that POC are targeted by law enforcement.
That too. I am sure some of these folks think this regardless of race, that convicts are just “Bad Dudes” that had their chance and blew it.
What I’ve never gotten in a concise explanation for the rationale that people who have paid their debt to society continue to not be able to vote. I get the rationale for not voting while incarcerated, but after? Never heard a good justification for it beyond basically, “Fuck 'em”.
Once in a while, you’ll get the something out of a Conservative like, “Well, the only reason the Dems want felons to vote is because they will vote for them”. Which is pretty amazing when you pick it apart, and take stock of all the things that statement acknowledges.
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The only felons I think shouldn’t have voting rights restored are ones who committed voter fraud or campaign finance violations. Since the first group is exceedingly small, that pretty much leaves the Trump Administration…
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I was having a similar conversation this weekend. The difference between progressive and regressive thought really comes down to a hope-based or fear-based worldview. Those with a fear-based worldview have a much more difficult time exercising empathy because fear is, in an evolutionary context, selfish. There’s good reason for this in the predator/prey world, but is hard to justify in the context of humanity.
Additionally, since a fear-based worldview necessitates some form of predator/prey mentality, there is an inherent respect for predators so… trump.
Or something like that. I’m still working on it.
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Why do white centrists insist on framing these issues as if the existence of racism was some sort of far-fetched conspiracy theory?
This selective hyperscepticism and wilful blindness is itself a manifestation of white supremacy.
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I’m having a hard time thinking of any conservative viewpoint that isn’t at its heart, “Better them than me.”
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The part that pisses me off about stripping convicts of voting rights is that states and local governments with large prison populations still get to count those prisoners as citizens for purposes of representation.
So you can have a county where most of the residents are incarcerated, but they get the same amount of government funding and government representation as another county where everyone is allowed to vote.
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Maybe we’ll see a change of heart on voting rights now that so many prominent conservatives are going to prison.
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It’s just the new 3/5th’s compromise.
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We see the attitude they have in that regard rather frequently in Trump’s Presidency: “Who? Nope never met the guy.”
I love the the self-own of this argument so much. I’ve seen it used in relation pretty much every marginalized group, and the intrinsic implication is always waiting there: “So you …don’t think those people should be able to vote … but only because they won’t for the GOP? Okay cool, glad we’re clear on that.”
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