Beshear restores voting rights to 140,000

Today, newly elected Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear restored voting rights to about 140,000 people convicted of nonviolent felonies who have served their sentences. The Democratic governor issued this directive 4 years after Matt Bevin violated a campaign pledge by revoking this right.

Beshear's directive doesn't apply to serial murderers and rapists who have forfeited their right to live freely. It only applies to those convicted of nonviolent crimes who are presumed to have paid their debt to society. In my America, we give second chances to those who are capable of living freely.

The far right is already screaming that Beshear is being soft on crime. That's a mighty thin argument, because it was Bevin who gave full pardons to violent thugs who hadn't completed their sentences. Bevin screwed up a couple times and pardoned a few people who actually deserve it, but many of his pardons are for ruthless criminals with political connections. Bevin's allies have refused to even prosecute serious crimes that were staring them in the face.

Which position shows more leadership and compassion: restoring rights to those who have earned it, or excusing those who won't learn from punishment and can just coast through life on political connections? One of the most basic principles of criminal justice is proportionality - which means the punishment should fit the crime. Why should someone who wrote a bad check to a grocery store 20 years ago be punished more severely than a serial rapist?

Beshear restoring voting rights to those who have paid their debt to society isn't his only act that has angered the extreme right. When Beshear took office this week, one of the first things he did was reorganize Kentucky's board of education, which Bevin had stacked with right-wing hacks who wanted to dismantle public schooling. After this reorganization, Bevin's appointees sued to block Beshear, but the Kentucky Supreme Court promptly laughed them right out of the courtroom.