So, according to you, being barred from voting in the United States until you die at 82 is a suitable punishment for joyriding in some guy's car when you're 19 and dumb.

Dandy.

And the people who have defrauded people of their life savings but who have the money for a lawyer, or a friend in the state house, can (in most states) get their voting rights restored, but the guy who held up a liquor store with a finger in his pocket, lacking said influence or income for legal help, will never vote again.

Wonderful.

Tell me all about equal opportunity. Tell me about personal redemption. Tell me about society benefitting from a citizen who has learned responsibility the hard way.

Taking away the right to vote gives a lasting impression and stigma that illustrates how much society frowns upon committing a felony.

Taking away the right to vote gives the lasting impression of a society that has no forgiveness in its heart, and illustrates that even a reformed felon has absolutely no ownership of the process that governs him, so why the hell should he care about it?

Taking away the right to vote makes certain that the children of a person convicted of a felony will never, ever have the experience of accompanying that parent to the polls, of hearing an election discussed as if it mattered (or even discussed), or of seeing that parent participate in the electoral process as a full citizen who has paid the debt owed to society.

Taking away the right to vote means that full citizenship can be revoked because of a single mistake. Taking away the right to vote unless you have money or influence means that full citizenship is for sale.