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0 pointsreaganing12y ago0 comments

Sure, I'll agree that Guantanamo's a stain on this country.

And while we have entirely too many prisoners in this country, they aren't 'political prisoners'. People aren't thrown into prison for protesting the government. (Or not generally, you did have McCarthyism and such in the past)

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7 comments · 3 top-level

k-mcgrady12y ago· 3 in thread

And your response to the death penalty?

mc3212y ago

The death penalty is a state by state issue. Some have it as an option, others have abolished it as an option.

nknighthb12y ago

The death penalty is not simply a state-by-state issue.

Besides the existence of a federal and military death penalty, the federal court system, including the US Supreme Court, deals with Constitutional issues related to the death penalty in states constantly, and has imposed various restrictions on its usage. SCOTUS has also been on an excruciatingly slow but clear path towards total nationwide abolishment.

There is very little in the US that can be treated as purely state-by-state, and so long as the 8th and 14th amendments exist, capital punishment definitely isn't one of them.

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reaganingOP12y ago

I'll say it's another stain on this country as well, but not particularly relevant to the issue of political imprisonment.

pyre12y ago· 1 in thread

  | People aren't thrown into prison for
  | protesting the government.

Depends on what you are protesting. Look at the police response to the Occupy protests. Talk to anyone that's worked in the animal rights movement. Sure you don't get thrown in jail for 'protesting the government' directly, but you'll get things like selective enforcement of laws brought against you because you've stuck your head out.

reaganingOP12y ago

In those instances, you might spend a few hours or the night in a jail cell, that's true. It's a bit different than what they do in Venezuela, or say, Egypt.

corresation12y ago

The war on drugs is almost always a war on the underclass / minorities. It is almost impossible to see when you live within it, but there will come a time years in the future when looking back on current America is like looking back on the era of slavery, in basic disbelief to the overwhelming ignorance of so many.

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