Voting block for '08

[Asgaya Dihi]

I haven't sent this yet but I plan to as sure as I've got any comments to help adjust it if need be. I'm planning in sending it to both the DSCC/DCCC and to my local party. Let me know if it looks good.


It's probably too late to make this an issue for this election but there's plenty of time for the next one. We have a large block of voters out there who don't show up at the polls and the main reason why they don't is that they don't see anyone as really being on their side. If you take a look at the few details I'll provide below you'll see why they don't think anyone cares about them. Change that and maybe we get them to the polls.

Poverty and problems in our inner cities and among the poor is no secret but we don't consider enough what drives it. We offer programs to pick them up after the fact but we aren't stopping it. Today one young man in eight between the ages of 25 and 29 are behind bars, that's almost 6 times the rate South Africa had in 1993. That leaves a lot of single mothers behind with few options to raise their children and drives many into poverty. The main driving forces behind this are safe school zones and other laws of the type that hit urban areas harder than suburban ones. As far as drug use there's not that much difference between the races, it shows up mostly in punishment. Statistics on racial balance and total number as of June 2004 at the following.

http://www.prisonsucks.com/

This system contributes to gangs and crime, we know prison gangs are finding their way onto the streets and that minor criminals too often come out as hardened ones. Then we put roadblocks in their way with loss of benefits and criminal records. One aspect we overlook though is the census, when we remove those young men from their homes we also shift the census population. That strips both funding and representation from the already troubled families and neighborhoods left behind, and the same ones they'll be returned to.

http://www.prisonersofthecensus.org/

We've got a number of real issues here if we'd take them. Ones that turn kids with poor judgment into criminals after a stay inside, that leave their families in poverty with fewer options and resources, that can strip them of their right to vote and shifts funding to reward their jailers. This is not a successful system. Show them that we care, and maybe they'll show up for us at the polls.