128

Involuntary servitude still exists in California. A ballot measure in November could change that (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 2 months ago by blorbo to c/politics@lemmy.world

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 7 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] Badabinski@kbin.earth 12 points 2 months ago

The article mentions Utah as a state where the slavery exception was removed from the constitution. This is true, but we've fucked it up in typical Utah fashion. The state constitution now reads as:

Article I, Section 21. [Slavery and involuntary servitude forbidden -- Limitation.] (1) Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within this State. (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to the otherwise lawful administration of the criminal justice system.

If there's a condition on whether slavery is acceptable, then it's not "abolished." God, our legislature is such an embarrassing clown car...

EDIT: I did some more research on this because it was bugging me. I looked at the language of the 2020 amendment, an independent analysis of the amendment text, and arguments made in favor of the amendment. Based on that, I believe that the exception is trying to ensure that we can still put people in jail, not that we're allowed to use them as slave labor when they're in jail. I think it's also supposed to make it possible for people in jail to participate in work programs if they want.

With that being said, I think it's a fucking sloppy piece of work. The text as written would be easily "misinterpreted" by someone who stands to make a financial gain from slave labor. I don't know who authored this amendment, but I feel that they did a bad job.

[-] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

Wow "slavery and indentured servitude are illegal except for the way it's already legal"

[-] Badabinski@kbin.earth 4 points 2 months ago

It's truly astounding legislation. Like, our legislature doesn't pass laws that I would consider "positive" very frequently. When they do, there's a 60-70% chance that some shithead real estate developer (which is most of the people in our house and Senate) will slip in something that either completely ruins the bill, or at the very least, ensures that we're only able to half-ass the implementation of said bill.

Fuck, even their stupid culture war bills are like this. They passed a bill that forces people to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender at birth when in government buildings. To report violations of this stupid law, they set up a tip hotline with the state auditor's office. In Utah, this is the person who is supposed to like, check for government corruption/overspending. Instead of doing any of that, the auditor's office has had to deal with thousands of calls, where, according to them, less than 10 had any substance. The best part is that the state auditor has no authority when it comes to enforcement, so they have to refer those cases to the police who then have to investigate everything again and I don't think a single person has gotten in trouble since this stupid bill was passed. It's wasteful and is perfectly representative of the type of government wastefulness that my fiscally conservative father encountered while living in California and blames solely on Democrats.

Fuck, I hate those fucking clowns. I often say that it blows my mind how such a beautiful place can be run by such incompetent people with such ugly intentions.

[-] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 months ago

Not sure if this will be a good year for this topic but I hope so. Seems like there might be a sort of “law and order” sentiment among the voters this year. I’m a little worried about it, honestly.

[-] Zoboomafoo@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 months ago

California sounds great, if only I could afford to live there

[-] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago

You could move to Baker, problem is then ya live in Baker.

this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2024

128 points (98.5% liked)

politics

19248 readers

2198 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

• Register To Vote

• Citizenship Resource Center

• Congressional Awards Program

• Federal Government Agencies

• Library of Congress Legislative Resources

• The White House

• U.S. House of Representatives

• U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

• News