I must admit that I have a lot of mixed feelings about the death penalty.
On the one hand, I really don’t have a problem with the conceptual/moral principle of putting someone to death who (beyond any shred of doubt) committed profoundly heinous acts like premeditated murder and even serial child rape.
On the other hand, our criminal justice system is so completely fucked up right now that I really don’t trust it (and especially juries of our “peers”) to administer the ultimate punishment fairly or dispassionately.
With that said, I think Ta-Nehisi Coates makes a pretty incisive point on the matter:
Texas justice is essentially sorcery, and there will be people who say that we can perfect it, that we can close the loop-holes. They’re wrong. The problem isn’t with loopholes–it’s with us. We are fallible. Conservatives, more than anyone, should know that–it undergirds their entire philosophy. They don’t think government can perfect much of anything. What makes them think we can perfect murder? I’d have a lot more respect if they just came out and said, “Yeah, it isn’t perfect, but it’s a price we should be willing to pay.If the fundamental driving principle behind modern conservatism is that most government is a horrible, doomed-to-fail albatross that needs to be fought and starved out of existence, how can they justify handing over the keys to the executioner’s room to the very government they loathe?
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I guess a cover featuring Uncle Sam hungrily masturbating to a painting of Jesus wearing an American flag was deemed to be insufficiently patriotic.
[Embiggen]
(1 comments)Paul Ryan Suddenly Realizes That Ayn Rand Was A Rabid Atheist
Republicans Cave Again: Student Loans Edition
Mississippi: A Shining Example Of Limited Government
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The Santorum Has Officially Been Mopped Up In The 2012 Race
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(THE GRAPEVINE
I do not support ending the death penalty out of any sympathy for the accused, but because I cannot imagine anything more horrible than being locked away from everyone I love for the rest of my life.