Capital Punishment

Some have suggested that West Virginia revive Capital Punishment.

I am no fan of criminals and I have no sympathy for those who murder for the fun of it.

I am opposed to the death penalty in West Virginia and in the United States to boot.

Why am I opposed?

If we stop the executions of killers in the U.S. Then we wont look like hypocrites when we ask that other countries stop executing people for things that are perfectly legal to do here.

In short if we stop executing people for major capitol offences. Then we are not going to look like hypocrites when we ask Saudi Arabia to stop executing women for adultery. Then we are not going to look like hypocrites when we ask Iran to stop hanging gay people. In Kuwait a woman can be executed for driving a car.

In many nations, one can be executed for converting from Islam to Christianity.

If we stop executing people, we wont look like hypocrites when we demand that other nations refrain from doing so also.

In short if the criminals in this country are given life without parole as an alternative to the death penalty. Then it greatly increases the bargaining position of our diplomats who try to get other countries to stop executing political and religious offenders in other parts of the world.

In short I am willing to let some of the wicked animals on death row do life without parole if it enhances our ability to put pressure on third world countries to stop killing innocent people for petty reasons.

The French, Belgian, British, and Dutch diplomatic corps have intervened many times in the Moslem world where women are more likely to face capital punishment than men. In northern Europe capital punishment has been abolished. I wish American diplomats were leading the efforts. In some parts of Africa people (Mostly women) are still being brutally executed by stoning on occasion. It is a brutal world that we live in.

Americans have traditionally been people of great kindness and compassion and that is why we were once respected around the world. Remember the Kindness that President Truman displayed to our former German enemies during the Berlin Airlift. It was at that time the largest humanitarian campaign the world had ever seen and the world respected our kindness.

The current president of the United States has signed more death warrants and built more prisons than any other leader in American history and it does not work. Around the world Americans are no longer seen as kind humanitarian people who lead by example.

I want my country back.

I oppose capital punishment in the USA because its sets an example for developing countries to follow. No country can claim to be totally free as long as the government of that country has the capacity to (rightly or wrongly) kill its own citizens. Freedom for good people is what it is all about.