In California they have prisoners fight the wildfires. I find it sickening, but it's a popular program. I wonder if that's where this result comes from. The wildfires get worse and worse and they need bodies to sacrifice. Depressing.
My thoughts as well.
It's the wildfires. They don't want to pay more in taxes to hire more firefighters, at least that's what makes sense to me.
It's still an abominably shitty thing and, IMHO, a human rights violation too.
It's at least a volunteer program, they aren't directly forcing people to fight the fires. A lot of people, the prisoners included, consider it a way of repaying their debt to society. I'm pretty sure I don't agree with a great deal of the situation in which it exists, but I do think that if I was in prison, being able to to something, feel like I still matter, would be some comfort.
That's a volunteer program. This is inside the prison work and comes with physical and mental punishment if you refuse.
Looks like people voted no to slavery, but the question asked do you not support slavery.
The answer should have been (yes) I do not support slavery.
Instead (no) I do not support slavery.
I can image a good chunk of people got confused with the wording, and I myself am still confused reading it.
Are you sure? It seems pretty straightforward to me. “This amendment would bar slavery and involuntary servitude.” It’s the first sentence.
I bet the wording on the ballot was different. Similar election results sites for my local ballot measures hasve greatly simplified the language the ballot had (which honestly is probably how ballot measures should be written)
Or maybe Americans are largely shitty people. Stop trying to excuse the behavior and accept it for what it is
Well yeah, obviously, but the wording of a question is often manipulated to lead people to different results. That's all
You know, reading that today, and putting myself in the shoes of an overworked, everyday American, it seems the wording does leave something to be desired. I wonder how that vote would have turned out if the question were: "Do you support slavery as long as the person was convicted of a crime and is in prison?"
Your wording is more confusing to me
This is the ballot text, it's not really confusing at all.
The link you supplied clears it all up. No way anyone could have misunderstood the vote, the ballot even outlines what yes and no mean in the context.
I think I now agree with what krashmo said in the thread below.
"Or maybe Americans are largely shitty people. Stop trying to excuse the behavior and accept it for what it is"
The part that was most surprising to me was this:
ARGUMENTS
PRO Proposition 6 ends slavery in California and upholds human rights and dignity for everyone. It replaces carceral involuntary servitude with voluntary work programs, has bipartisan support, and aligns with national efforts to reform the 13th Amendment. It will prioritize rehabilitation, lower recidivism, and improve public safety, resulting in taxpayer savings.
CON No argument against Proposition 6 was submitted.
No one came out in opposition? Not even the bureau of prisons, or the warden's union‽‽ And it still didn't pass?
Edit: I, and all my housemates claim to have, voted for this proposition, and actually all the propositions I had on my ballot in IB to pass. It's truly disheartening to see that all the other props that mattered less than this one passed, and this one that literally seems to have no downsides is potentially failing.
For reference, the downsides of almost every single other proposition on the IB ballot would increase various taxes, and all of them passed. WTELF you stupid NIMBYS‽‽‽
The props are worded so insanely that without hours of prep, I would vote incorrectly.
My state banned ranked choice voting by an insane margin because it was worded like "only citizens should be allowed to vote, and each citizen only gets one vote each!" Literally two Google searches would clear it up if people had more critical thinking skills
A "resistance" against the will of the majority is generally called a terrorist organization.
Progressive Americans, face it: Most of the people around you want this.
George Carlin called it decades ago.
The politicians are a reflection of us.
Our PEOPLE suck.
A fat, greedy, proudly ignorant, proudly racist, spray tanned elitist bully drunk on schaudenfreude is the perfect American mascot.
He's like the United States took human form. A monument to all our sins.
If you still consider the rugged individualism we crow about a feature and not severe mental illness, you are infected with the disease. If you want winners and losers, go live in the forest and see if you live or die.
Societies need to work together, and we have been trained in the spirt of capitalist competition🤮 to compete against eachother, to tear eachother down, to root against one another hoping to get moooaaaar for ourselves. This is the very opposite of a society.
The first part is not true. The White rose and the french resistance in ww2 are both called "resistance". So the distinction between terrorists and resistance is in the eye of the historian.
This is the first result I checked for when I woke up this morning, and I nearly vomited when I saw the breakdown. Half the vote is still uncounted, but I don’t think the result will change. I’m ashamed of my neighbors.
Call for resistance? You can get enough Americans to get off their arse to vote every four years?
To be fair, and that’s being very fair, it does end with “allowing involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime” and a case could be made for confusing wording.
This is the ballot text, it's not really confusing at all.
Oh wow, that’s actually explained very well. Fair enough, y’all just want slavery I guess lol
It hasn't been called yet but I certainly didn't have California votes to be a slave state on my 2024 bingo card.
People likely voted for not repealing the provision allowing involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime and not for keeping slavery.
Whoever thought combining those two things in one vote was a good idea is an idiot
You can be enslaved in the US for the crime of not having enough money to afford a place to live.
...what other slavery currently exists (legally) that this would have addressed? This isn't combining two things. Barring slavery in any form includes punitive servitude. Calling them separate issues is like calling "we should fix this leak" a separate concern from "this pipe should not have any leaks".
Oh go away, they did not vote for "slavery". They voted to allow making convicted felons work as part of their sentence. It's slavery in the same sense that working to buy food and pay rent is "slavery". Metaphorically yes, but calling it slavery devalues the experiences of all the people who were kidnapped from their homes, brought here in chains on ships, and sold in a market.
Hey, would you look at that, chattel slavery isn't the only type. That is amazing, no one could have guessed that until right now, after I looked it up. It is almost like it being called chattel slavery implies multiple forms of slavery. Wow, this is so new, and novel.
Just like uncle Tom, working in the house so he could make a living...as a slave. But hey, they fed and clothed him, so is it still slavery?
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