Off With Their Heads

    In our form of government there is often a tension between the will of the majority and simple right and wrong. One area where that is starkly illustrated is the issue of capital punishment.  Is it right?  Is it wrong?  Thankfully, we have the courts for that.  I do like it that several governors of both parties, when confronted with being the final agent in the process of ending a life have just refused.  I find it disappointing that various legislative members, not realizing their hands are on the switch as well, encourage the blood lust of the mob. They behave as if they don't know you get to go to hell for that.  They should know better.
    Florida just killed a guy for something he did 29 years ago.  Regardless of whether or not he could be rehabilitated he never would have gotten out of jail.  He was leaving feet first no matter the agency of his death.
    There are all kinds of ancillary arguments about this.  My personal favorite is: Society has a right to defend itself. We do.  It's persuasive  but in these cases what exactly are we defending against?  No one convicted of the kind of crimes that would land a person on death row would ever see the light of day in any event.  The death penalty has no more deterrent effect than life without parole.  That's an established fact.  Revenge and justice are two very different things and revenge has no place in our courts.
    With that thought in mind, it's easy to see some of the most strident arguments for capital punishment  become arguments against.  Some of the punishments that are called for would require a person twice as blood thirsty as any murderer the punishments might be used against.  Do we really want to hire a psychopath to deal with a criminal?  Obviously not.  Where would we find someone willing to do some of these things for a government check?  Of course, that's extreme and obviously not germane.
    In the end, I think these are the adult considerations.  Our punishments say much more about us as a society than they ever say about those we punish.  History tells us that. We look with horror at the executions practiced by the Romans  or the medieval church or the Saracens and on and on. The criminals and the crimes were the same. We judge the societies.
    Viewed that way we see we have a responsibility to ourselves in the face of posterity at least, if not   in the face of Providence.  We face the practical and the divine. Those are very powerful specters.  It's always right to remember we are discussing us; you and me and our neighbors working together to take someone's life.  In the face of those specters, how complicit do we want to be?  How complicit do you want to be?  I know I'm out.