317
votes
Why allow convicted criminals to vote?
The most trite answer is a civil rights protection against the following algorithm:
Win a legislative election.
Pass any law which disproportionately imprisons the supporters of your opponents.
...
- 21.4k
188
votes
Accepted
Why is there a need to prevent a racist, sexist, or otherwise bigoted vendor from discriminating who they sell to?
TL;DR: You question rests in the supposition that, next to the business that refuses to sell to me, there will be another similar business that will be willing to sell to me. That supposition is, to ...
- 33k
139
votes
Why allow convicted criminals to vote?
Democracy: Criminals (including those in jail) are affected by the results of the political process. Allowing them to vote gives their an option for their opinions to be heard.
If you want to signal ...
- 33k
71
votes
Has any of the US federal armed forces acted violently against civil movements / protesters?
Yes basically, even ignoring the Civil War etc., the Ohio Army National Guard shot and killed some students during the Kent State shootings in 1970.
Twenty-eight National Guard soldiers fired ...
69
votes
Why allow convicted criminals to vote?
Here are some actual arguments given in cases around the world, extracted from a paper focusing on the Irish case:
Israel: after Yigal Amir assassinated Rabin, there was a court case asking for Amir'...
64
votes
Why is there a need to prevent a racist, sexist, or otherwise bigoted vendor from discriminating who they sell to?
Other people already pointed out how restrictions in supply of goods will damage the targeted groups no matter what, but in addition to that, the supposition that discrimination is harmful to the ...
- 5,425
45
votes
Accepted
Are nations required to allow their own citizens entry under international law?
The ability to return to your country is considered a human right, Article 13(2) of the declaration of human rights and also Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
...
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42
votes
Has any of the US federal armed forces acted violently against civil movements / protesters?
The US Army was employed to evict the Bonus Army from their camps in Washington. In 1932 17,000 veterans and 26,000 others (largely family of the veterans) were camped in Washington D.C. to demand ...
- 1,459
41
votes
Accepted
Why did Saudi Arabia not allow women to drive?
Internal reasoning in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA): It's for women's benefit
Sheikh Saleh bin Saad al-Lohaidan, a judicial adviser to an association of Gulf psychologists, recently told a Saudi ...
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39
votes
Accepted
Why do US police treat using counterfeit money as an emergency?
The case of George Floyd is that he was accused of passing a counterfeit $20
Floyd allegedly used a counterfeit bill to buy cigarettes at the convenience store last week. The clerk reported it to ...
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38
votes
Why allow convicted criminals to vote?
A few points not brought up by the other answers:
Criminals are not uniformly of one party. In certain cases reformed criminals, or even unreformed criminals, might be much wiser voters who are less ...
- 13k
34
votes
Why allow convicted criminals to vote?
Citizens who are convicted of crimes don't stop being citizens and start being criminals arbitrarily, and voting is not a privilege: it is a civic duty. It makes sense that the default should be ...
- 359
33
votes
What is the proper (non-"Gerrymandering") purpose of political districting?
The purpose of political districting is to ensure local representation - something that is valued as itself in the US. This decision to have districts immediately leads to a debate on what is the ...
- 1,643
33
votes
Has any of the US federal armed forces acted violently against civil movements / protesters?
With such a broad definition of "US army", the answer is trivially true as shown by the FBI assassination of Fred Hampton. If we include military-like actions by the police, incidents like the bombing ...
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33
votes
Does any country consider housing and food a right?
Yes, articles 36 & 37 of Nepal's constitution, under Part 3; Fundamental Rights and Duties state exactly that:
Right relating to Food:
Every citizen shall have the right relating to food.
Every ...
CDJB♦
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32
votes
Why is there a need to prevent a racist, sexist, or otherwise bigoted vendor from discriminating who they sell to?
Simply, because discrimination does not necessarily cause companies to go out of business.
Other answers have dealt with the problem of preventing concrete harm to customers who are being broadly ...
- 18.1k
31
votes
Accepted
What are major reasons behind giving legitimacy to religions & religious practices
Because of history
When modern Western democracies were first being formed, being religious was the norm, so religion had legitimacy by default. There continue to be many religious people today (...
- 1,032
30
votes
Accepted
What are the current battlegrounds for people’s “rights” in the UK?
Abortion is legal until the end of the 24th week.
Not in Northern Ireland. UK progressiveness really ought to remember to look at the whole UK.
I would say that the big areas at the moment are:
...
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30
votes
How do anti-feminists and anti-woke people define feminism?
The fundamental misunderstanding in the question is that the question defines feminism as an idea, whereas the authors of videos like those in the question are referring to the modern political ...
- 7,445
29
votes
Accepted
What countries voted for letting Saudi Arabia join the UN women's rights commission?
According to the United Nations press release, the election was conducted using a secret ballot. In a secret ballot, there is no way to know who voted for a particular candidate.
To help you out a ...
- 24k
28
votes
What is the oldest "true" democracy?
Unclear on many levels and very US centric. "True democracy" is indeed a problematic qualifier. On many levels. As is 'universal suffrage'. Why not let 16 year olds vote? Like South Africa ...
- 5,009
27
votes
Why do US police treat using counterfeit money as an emergency?
The fact that officers showed up promptly in person doesn't necessarily mean that they considered it an emergency. It means that they had the people available to respond and prioritized doing so over ...
- 1,114
26
votes
Could homeless people unionize? How?
Unions are generally trade unions: workers who organize to bargain with an industry for better working conditions and benefits by withholding trade-related labor. Homelessness is not a trade, and ...
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25
votes
What is the proper (non-"Gerrymandering") purpose of political districting?
Single member districts are pretty unrepresentative
You are right to question the value of holding several single-member, First-past-the-post elections. FPTP essentially throws away all votes that ...
- 594
25
votes
Why allow convicted criminals to vote?
First and foremost: The question is ill-considered because universal suffrage is considered now a basic human right.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 21
(1) Everyone has the right to ...
- 4,712
25
votes
How do anti-feminists and anti-woke people define feminism?
First, some feminists do, arguably, hate men. Andrea Dworkin comes to mind - this is a lady who allegedly even refused to talk with male attendees - presumably "allies" - at her talks. Not ...
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24
votes
Does any country consider housing and food a right?
Germany does. Someone who has no means to get food and housing can go to the authorities and demand a place in a homeless shelter and feeding. This is clarified in laws which are derived from ...
- 116k
23
votes
Why is there a need to prevent a racist, sexist, or otherwise bigoted vendor from discriminating who they sell to?
The government has a responsibility to all of its citizens to ensure their rights and liberties are not infringed upon.
It doesn't matter if a business would, theoretically, flourish, fail, or be ...
- 21k
22
votes
Has any of the US federal armed forces acted violently against civil movements / protesters?
For the US army itself there are at least
Federal troops took actions against railroad employees in the Pullman strike. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike#Federal_intervention
Force ...
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible