The following is something of a lost article of mine. It can no longer be found in its original spot online, so I’m posting it here. This was one of a few pieces I wrote for the paper in my college. Unlike me, people loved my writing. I think. 

Nebraska, I’ve never been there. To be honest, my only familiarity with the place is due to an adult entertainment website that has the name of the state in its title. I’m probably going to Hell for that line, but so what. It could be worse. I could be like Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman. He did a dumb thing last Wednesday.

According to the website Think Progress, Nebraska became the 11^th state in the Union to ban employers from asking job applicants about their criminal histories.

I’m going to sound like a cold hearted moustache twiddling man when I say this, but that is a horrible idea. This unfairly penalizes employers who need to protect their businesses from any potential chaos that hiring an Ex-Con could cause.

According to The Daily Beast, one similar measure that is under consideration in the City of Baltimore would require businesses in the private sector to not run a criminal background check until they offer a job to an applicant. If they violate this, they themselves can be penalized. Interesting how the law does not affect public sector industries that employee people, hostile government at its finest.

I get that people deserve a second chance, but one needs to look at the kinds of criminals who stand to benefit from such legislation to see where I’m coming from.

In Michigan, current Flint City Councillor Wantaz Davis is leading efforts to ban background checks by business owners in that state. Davis served nearly 20 years in prison for shooting someone who allegedly sexually assaulted his mother. When he was released from prison, he could not find steady work because of his past.

In Florida, or as I call it, America’s Japan, and for those of you wondering, it is America’s Japan because like Japan, weird stuff happens in the Sunshine State, a man recently suffocated his infant son because his crying was interrupting his time that he was spending on his Xbox. Sadly, the New York Daily News reported that this happened just outside of Tampa. If you were wondering, employers in that city cannot ask an applicant about their criminal history. This is so stupid.

Bottom line is this; I understand that people deserve second chances. I even appreciate that lack of employment can often cause individuals to re-offend and thus not break free of the criminal lifestyle. But these kinds of laws need to be seriously tinkered with or abandoned all together. Employers should have the right to know if a job applicant shot someone who allegedly hurt their mother or smothered their infant son during a game of Call of Duty. I think they would be bad workers.