These moves are part of the offensive by the employing class and its government against the working class. As they push to lower wages, lengthen the work day, and gut entitlements such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, the capitalist rulers must find ways to divide and weaken the working class as a whole. They seek to drive a wedge between the unemployed and employed, and foster other divisions based on race, gender, and immigrant status. The rulers must force working people to accept the notion that there are certain people who are less than fully human, who don't deserve the same rights as others.

One prong of this offensive is the attempt, through measures such as the so-called "Megan's law" in New York, to gain acceptance for the idea that those who have been convicted of crimes should be denied democratic rights. The New York law and similar measures across the country strike directly at the right to presumption of innocence, an important conquest working people have won. It allows the state to arbitrarily impose punishment after a person has served out their usual sentence. These are democratic safeguards that the working class needs to defend as it comes up against the employers in battle.

Class-conscious workers and all supporters of democratic rights should oppose these "sexual offenders" laws and explain why they are a blow to civil liberties.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home