The U.S.
government hasn’t executed anyone in several years, until this week. So far, the BOP has executed two people.
Both had
been convicted of heinous murders. Both
were convicted many years ago. One is an
Alzheimer’s patient and is arguably so badly affected that he doesn’t know why
he’s getting executed.
The fact
that these guys will die at some point doesn’t really bother me. After all, they are human and mortality is
in their future. That they have died this
week or others in their situation may die next week doesn’t compare to my
feeling about many others, most younger, who have died this week.
Maybe I’m
too practical about life and death.
Certainly, some think so. And that’s
okay with me. I have a “reputation” that
varies with as many people who know me or who know or think they know anything
about me.
The death
penalty continues to make no sense to me.
A person currently subject of a death penalty has proven himself unfit to live among us. (I use “him” advisedly.” By far, most people who truly earn the death
penalty are men. I have my belief as to
why, but I do know that the fact is true, no matter why.) Therefore, in a fair and just society, we
need to separate that person from us.
How we
separate them causes endless discussion.
Do we need to punish them for doing evil? That’s an area where both religious and
humanist thought coincide. No, we don’t
need to express the “evil” of revenge against the evildoers. (“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” which is trite
but true. Lots of trite sayings are
nevertheless accurate.)
There is the
possibility that the death penalty will be applied unfairly and
inconsistently. There is the possibility
that it will be applied based on race, religion or lack thereof, economic
circumstance or other things unrelated to what the person did.
Now – If you
say, “Damn right, [this group] is FAR more like to be executed and it’s unfair
. . .”, you have missed the point. It
doesn’t matter that a particular bunch of people are subject of abuse. What matters is that it is possible that ANY
particular group MAY BE subject of abuse, because when you leave the POSSIBILITY
that, say Methodists will be killed more than Buddhists, it WILL happen to
some Methodists. We cannot trust people
in power, we never have, and that’s the nature of power. Methodist power, Hispanic power, Buddhist power,
redneck power, any-darn-thing power, it’s all the same. You don’t need to prove that it’s happening,
that it can happen makes it inevitable to happen.
How does it
happen? Well, by people who think that
they are being “right.” Of course a
Methodist is more likely to kill people, don’t we all know that? So I’m enforcing GOD’S WILL by executing
them. Or Humanity’s will. Or Odin’s
will. Or just MY will. (Sorry, Monty and Jim - God told me.)
It is possible
– and that means it has probably happened – that we’ll kill the wrong person. Oops.
But they are still dead and it’s too late to change that. It’s VERY unlikely with all of the safeguards
we have today, but still possible. I
remember the doctrine of “murder by perjury,” which has been known to convict
murderers who testified that somebody else killed a person when really they
didn’t. Then, the murder-by-perjury
person was duly executed, which did nothing for the victim. They were still dead.
That’s
really the basic point. Not everybody understands
it. Listen: When you execute somebody, they are
dead. They have quit breathing and their heart has stopped. There is no replay button in
life. Some say that it’s doesn’t matter,
because if someone dies, they go to the reward that they earned while they
live. Heck, I believe that. I “know” it’s true. But if you come to kill me, expect a
fight. I’m not ready yet.
And it’s
also possible that the death penalty will be applied inconsistently. Unless we kill every murderer – which we don’t
– it is inevitable that the death penalty be applied inconsistently. Simply inevitable.
So what it
the answer? Ooh, that’s sounds like a
trick question. I do so hate to come up
with “an answer,” meaning the one-and-only-answer that God/The Force/Whoever
inspired me to think of. (Hmm – should I
grow my beard longer to look like an Old Testament Prophet?)
I think AN answer is to use The Dustbin of History. John Wayne Gacy has been executed. But if he hadn’t, he would still be in prison
forever and thereby consigned to the Dustbin of History.
We are ALL consigned to the Dustbin of History
eventually. According to a Google search
– so we know it’s true – 108 billion humans have existed. Something like 6 billions are alive, so every
person has 17-some ghosts behind them.
Years ago, Arthur C. Clarke estimated 30-some ghosts behind people in
the 1960’s. Anyway, more people have
lived than are living today. How many of
them do you remember?
I remember my 6-times great-grandfather, Jonathan Currey,
who alighted in Hampton Roads, Virginia, as an indentured servant in 1649. That’s all I know about him and I couldn’t
pick him out of a line-up. I have 1/256th of his DNA, so he probably
didn’t look like me. Knowing that he existed
is not like mourning him more than anyone else on his ship. We remember Alexander the Great, Augustus Caesar,
Plato, and maybe a couple of thousand other people who are dead. The rest?
Dustbin of History.
I don’t want to see John Wayne Gacy move in next door. We need the Dustbin of History for him even when
he’s still alive. You don’t need to punish
him, being on the Dustbin of History already does that. Give him air conditioning and a TV, shut the
door to his cell, and go about your own life.
He has chosen his. His victims
are not helped, not brought justice, by doing anything else.
In other words – We need to keep our eye on the ball. And “the ball” is what matter in the future.
Mizpah!
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