I’ve felt for a long time that when convicts pay their debt to society, they should regain the right to vote. That’s what happens in Indiana and 35 other states. So I was happy to see George Will’s recent column, which echoed my sentiments.

In Florida (and other states), felons lose the right to vote PERMANENTLY. Will mentions one Florida felon who went on to earn a law degree. But for the rest of his life, he can’t vote. Is that right?

Will writes of Florida, “The state has a low threshold for felonious acts: Someone who gets into a bar fight, or steals property worth $300 — approximately two pairs of Air Jordans — or even drives without a license for a third time can be disenfranchised for life.”

That now includes 1.6 million Floridians, including 20% of the state’s voting-age African-Americans. Nationwide, of the 4.7 million former prisoners who can’t vote, one-third are African-American. There is an undeniable a racial element, and class element, since such laws especially affect African-Americans and poor people. Nationwide, such laws prevent one of every 13 African Americans from voting.

Will continues, “What intelligent purpose is served by reminding felons — who really do not require reminding — of their past, and by advertising it to their community? The rule of law requires punishments, but it is not served by punishments that never end, and that perpetuate a social stigma and a sense of never fully reentering the community.”

In Florida, Republicans control both houses of the state legislature, plus the governorship. They don’t want to jeopardize that. Since Florida is the largest swing state, and blacks and poor people are generally more likely to vote Democrat, Republicans–not just in Florida, but nationally–have a strong interest in not restoring the votes of felons. Similar laws exist in Virginia and Arizona, two other significant swing states where Republicans have the upper hand.

But permanent disenfranchisement isn’t the norm. Here are the 14 states which automatically restore voting rights after a person leaves prison: Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Hawaii, and Utah. As you can see, it’s a mixture of conservative and liberal states. Another 22 states restore voting rights after a person completes parole or probation (they may also be required to pay fines, fees, or restitution before having voting rights restored). So states like Florida are in the minority.

Interestingly, in Maine and Vermont, felons have the right to vote even when incarcerated. California extends voting privileges to persons in county prisons. There’s a lot of other variety. Wyoming, in 2017, restored the voting rights of nonviolent felons. In 2013, Delaware eliminated the five-year waiting period for restoring voting rights.

Florida has a process for restoring your voting rights: you have to wait 5-7 years (depending on the crime) and then apply to the governor, who can say yes or no. Republican governor Rick Scott has received tens of thousands of such applications, but has approved only 1600 of them (compared to 150,000 by his predecessor). A cynic might wonder how many of those persons were white, middle-class people with Republican political connections. He has also pushed other measures to suppress voting among people who tend to favor the Democratic party (students, the poor, minorities). Scott is my Least Favorite Governor Ever.

Name a single instance, anywhere, in which Democrats have passed laws to hinder or prevent conservatives from voting? Take your time. I’ll wait.

James Michener, in “The Bridge at Andau,” criticized the United States for being slow to act on behalf of the freedom fighters of the Hungarian Revolution, and on behalf of the 200,000 refugees who poured into Austria. Other countries–France, Britain, Switzerland, and other nations–immediately leaped into the breach to welcome and care for refugees. But America did very little…initially.

But finally, we got our act together and entered the fray with unbounded generosity and compassion. By the middle of March 1957, just four months after the Russian invasion, the United States had accepted over 30,000 Hungarian refugees. Again: 30,000. Some voices objected–we should take care of our own needs first, and besides, there could be communist infiltrators among those refugees. But we responded not to fear or self-interest, but to human need.

Michener wrote about America’s response:

• We lifted or ignored restrictions on bringing refugees into the US.
• The US embassy in Vienna, Austria, sped up the flow of paperwork.
• Our emergency relief organizations–Catholic, Jewish, Protestant–stopped squabbling and began working around the clock to reunite refugee families and get them cleared to come to America.
• US aid groups flooded Austria with blankets, medicine, food, and money.
• Educational foundations provided scholarships to American colleges.

Michener continued, “Then, when it seemed as if the United States had done all it could, there occurred the Christmas [1956] visit of Vice President Nixon, who cut additional red tape, reassured the Austrians of our continued support of their efforts, and spurred our own government to further generosity in accepting refugees. A massive airlift was organized….And across America, thousands of families who had never seen a Hungarian before suddenly opened their doors and welcomed strangers to whom they could not speak a single word.”

I’m supremely proud of THAT America, the America into which I was born on the day the Hungarian Revolution started on October 23, 1956. THAT is a country I believe God chose to bless. I think we had our thumb on God’s pulse–helping people who were needy, damaged, vulnerable, homeless, and helpless. People who needed a place to start anew, and we said, “Come to America. We’ll treat you well.”

Consider the similarities to Syria. Like Hungary, Syria was a Russia-aligned country whose people rose up against an oppressive regime, but were put down with help from Russia. As with Hungary, hundreds of thousands of refugees poured into Europe, which largely embraced them. But this time, America has been mostly silent.

Michener wrote 61 years ago, prophetically, “When the patriots in Budapest struck, we were unprepared. We neither knew what to do, nor had the will to do it. We stood before the world in very shabby moral clothes, and should this happen again, we might have to surrender our position of world leadership.”

Let me give a plug for Laughing Man coffee, a company started by one of my favorite actors, Hugh Jackman. This morning I drank the Dukale Blend, which leaves a wonderful aftertaste. I also love Hugh’s Blend. Both are among the best K-cup coffees I’ve had. Tomorrow I’ll try the Columbian, which I think is new.

Laughing Man somewhat resembles Newman’s Own, the brand started by Paul Newman. In both cases, all profits go to charity, and a foundation oversees the charitable work. The Laughing Man Foundation focuses on supporting small coffee-growing farmers like Dukale and their surrounding communities–providing grants to build and renovate homes, college scholarships, new business projects, and more.

Hugh Jackman started Laughing Man after a 2011 trip to Ethiopia with World Vision, a leading Christian relief and development organization. There, he met a coffee farmer named Dukale. Jackman basically went into the coffee business with Dukale. He provided half of the startup funds, and donates all of his profits to the foundation.

Jackman’s main role was helping small growers like Dukale gain access to better markets for their coffee in the US and elsewhere. He says, “It thrills me I can use my profile for something that is genuinely giving back.”

Laughing Man seems to have a commendable philosophical framework–not giving handouts, but giving people a hand-up, opening doors, and providing resources to help people get over the hump in bettering their own lives.

Pam and I are fans of Fair Trade. Laughing Man doesn’t throw around the Fair Trade label, but they are very much in that realm. Laughing Man promotes fair compensation, ethical practices, sustainability, empowering women, a low carbon footprint, entrepreneurship, and human dignity.

Through April 10, the business side is donating to the foundation twice the amount it normally does for every sale of Laughing Man K-cups. I bought four 10-pack boxes today, all different flavors.