Mike Huckabee thinks that it is perfectly reasonable to sell poor people into slavery for stealing. Hey, it's in the Bible.

I'm using this much of my brain to answer these questions.

Courtesy of Think Progress:  

The former Arkansas governor weighed in on our nation’s current criminal justice system during an appearance yesterday on Mickelson in the Morning, a leading Iowa radio program. 

Host Jan Mickelson began by bemoaning that the “criminal justice system has been taken over by progressives.” In order to fight back, he argued, conservatives should look to the biblical Book of Exodus. “It says, if a person steals, they have to pay it back two-fold, four-fold,” 

Mickelson explained. “If they don’t have anything, we’re supposed to take them down and sell them.” Mickelson went on to argue why jails, which he claimed are a “pagan invention,” are inferior to slavery: “We indenture them and they have to spend their time not sitting on their stump in a jail cell, they’re supposed to be working off the debt.” 

“Wouldn’t that be a better choice?” the host asked. 

“Well, it really would be,” Huckabee replied without missing a beat. “Sometimes the best way to deal with a nonviolent criminal behavior is what you just suggested.”

Okay I have to admit that I thought this might be bullshit, or some kind of exaggeration.

But then I listened to the audio that Think Progress so helpfully embedded on their site, and sure enough this is exactly what Huckabee says.

The Biblical passage which supports the idea of selling poor people into slavery can be found in Exodus 22:  

"Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep."If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed;but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed. "Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft."

Isn't it great that we have evolved to far as a society that we understand that owning other human beings, even one who has stolen from us, is morally repugnant?

And do we really want to elect a leader who still clings to archaic and primitive methods for dealing with crime?

After all what would be next for Mike Huckabee?

Stoning women for committing adultery?

Or perhaps killing people for working on the Sabbath?

Or perhaps simply forty lashes for the sin of being wicked.

Gee too bad Huckabee is not running for the leader of a fundamentalist Muslim country, it sounds like his way of thinking would make him a shoo in for the job.