Hiring the Convicted

There are so many posts going around stating if it is OK to hire a convicted felon for President, it is OK to hire a convicted felon for any position. This is true. If it took you the conviction of a privileged, high-status man to come to this realization, you are part of the problem.

I have worked with, worked for, supervised, and hired people with criminal records. In fact, if there are two resumes before me, one with a conviction and the other without, all other things being equal, I will pick the felon. In my experience, felons work harder. It is that simple to me. Which one of these people can I trust - without knowing them fully - to do the job better? The felon wins.

When I was a youth and without status or reputation, I took odd jobs to make ends meet. One of them was in a warehouse and brought me into contact with all manner of person: robbers, assailants, murderers, illegals. These people worked the hardest I have ever seen anyone work. They had lived inside the system (in a 20 sqft cell) and were determined to never become dependent upon that system again; it fueled them, and they were successful.

One of the hardest working people I know - one of the people I would entrust ANY task to because I know it would get done if accepted - was tried, convicted, and punished. I would trust this man with the keys to the kingdom because, I know he would do right by me. All of the snakes in the grass, all of the slimy sales types, all of the say-it-behind-my-back, all of the petty people I know have no criminal record outside parking and speeding tickets.

These are the facts of my life. Maybe other people have different experiences, but these are mine. Don’t judge a book by its cover, and don’t judge a person by his rap sheet.