Everyday Erinyes #131

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”

Everyone who reads PP on a regular basis, or even on a strong occasional basis, has, I’m sure, seen a comment from me saying that Republicans kill – it’s what they do. Their tax policies kill. Their immigration policies kill. Their health policies kill. Their infrastructure policies kill. Their environmental policies kill. If they succeed in destroying Social Security, that will kill. Their gun policies most assuredly kill, as does their policy on capital punishment – those are almost too obvious to mention. They simply don’t care if people get hurt even unto death. It’s who they are. It’s what they do.

But the fact is that people who are not Republicans, who are actually trying their best to produce legislation which will not kill, which will actually help the neediest, which will keep everyone safe, can also come up with legislation which can hardly be said to be people-friendly. In fairness, when legislators are trying to do better, that usually happens when two or more pieces of unrelated legislation which were not considered together when passed create a conflict.

That appears to me to be what has happened in California, and has only come into prominence in the news due to the devastating fires they are having and fighting. Under their licensing laws, they have a provision that an ex-convict cannot become certified as EMTs. That actually makes sense when one considers that actions which send people to prison, especially serious ones, have a tendency to demonstrate a lack of empathy. No one wants to be “helped” by an EMT who lacks empathy.

But now they are having these fires, and they are simply beyond the capacity of existing firefighters to handle. So they have turned to prisons, because there are programs under which prisoners who meet certain conditions can work on fighting fires (I know that’s not just California; in fact, I believe it’s true in many states, including mine, with slight differences, but it’s the ones who are incarcerated in California and serving under California rules, and will presumably stay in California after release, who are running into the conflict.)

Inmates with a pretty clean rap sheet are allowed to participate in the fire program inside of the prison. However, prisoners with the backgrounds of arson, kidnapping, sexual crimes, escape attempts, those in gangs and those who are facing a life sentence are disqualified. Those who are selected are required to undergo fire safety training and a physical exam. 

According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the program has attracted over 2,000 California prisoners, men and women, including 58 juveniles (17 or close, I’m sure – they have to pass a physical, remember). I say “attracted” because the program is attractive for those who can qualify. They can get paid – a nominal amount to be sure, currently $1.00 per hour – and probably more importantly to them, they get multiples of normal good-behavior time off of their sentences for doing this work. They also get to do something which cannot be called boring, and to interact with non-incarcerated professionals, which has to be a plus.

What they cannot do is ever be a professional firefighter after release, at least not in California, because California requires every professional firefighter to be a certified EMT. And, as ex-convicts, they are disqualified from getting that certification.

Setting aside the issue of whether the pay is fair when it’s so low – an issue which is addressed in my linked article but is such a different can of worms that I don’t want to go there here – it appears to me that a fair solution would be to address the licensing provisions to provide some kind of waiver for former convicts who have fought fires while incarcerated to get EMT certification. It could be contingent on having a firefighting job or job offer. It could require the convict to have spent a minimum number of hours on firefighting while incarcerated. I can see setting some restrictions. But a total denial doesn’t seem to me to be in anyone’s best interests. Alecto, perhaps you could discuss this with some state legislators in California? And I believe California will be getting a new Governor in January also, Governor Brown being term-limited out. Perhaps you could also talk with him (the two who survived the jungle primary are both “him”s).

A situation I want to briefly touch on on North Carolina is, alas, very different. In 2016, a couple of things happened in North Carolina: for one, Roy Cooper (D) defeated Pat McCrory (R) [and a good thing – McCrory is a real piece of work]. For another, the North Carolina Supreme Court, whose justices are elected, became majority left. This caused Republican heads in the State Legislature to explode, and they have been acting like a greatly augmented version of the Three Stooges ever since. You may have seen some of the twists and turns; I have, but my linked article is the first time I have seen the latest, and seen them together.

This year, conservative Justice Barbara Jackson is running for re-election, and the GOP supermajority in the North Carolina General Assembly did everything they could to stack the deck in her favor. Overriding the veto of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, Republicans passed a law making judicial elections partisan, out of the belief voters get confused into voting for liberals by the lack of party labels. They then eliminated partisan primaries, forcing all candidates to run on the same ballot, believing multiple Democrats would run against Jackson and split the vote. 

I think we all know Republicans are not good with facts. It did not go as they expected. Former Clinton Justice Department and civil rights attorney Anita Earls is running as a Democrat, against two Republicans, Jackson and Raleigh attorney Chris Anglin. Now, remember, party affiliations are on the ballot only because the Republicans made it so. Now that it’s working against them, they quickly passed a law to strip Anglin of his party affiliation on the ballot. (Anglin sued, resulting in ballot delays – it’s still in the courts.)

Not content with one law for just one person, they also wrote a law to require anyone whose last name begins with an “E” to appear last on the ballot. You just can’t make this stuff up – I know I couldn’t.

The irony of all this is that, as Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern has noted, “If Republicans hadn’t intervened, Jackson might have coasted to reelection on incumbency advantage alone.” But all of their attempts to tip the electoral scales are blowing up in their face. 

Megaera and Tisiphone, it sounds like you have already been really, really busy in the State Assembly (“Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad,” as Euripides didn’t say.) Do keep it up.

The Furies and I will be back.

Cross posted to Care2 HERE.