Thanks to my non-running mate for the heads up on this political announcement.
The Impaler is running for governor of Minnesota and even plans to register for a presidential bid.
Quite some distance from the mainstream, however, is his pledge to execute -- by impalement in front of the State Capitol -- terrorists, rapists, drug dealers, child abusers, repeat drunken drivers and anybody who preys on the elderly.
I almost agree with him here. If people want capitol punishment, make it horrid and painful and public. I think the concept of 'humane' executions has done more to keep the death penalty around than anything. Could you stomach the public execution of a man by evisceration if you had even a shred of doubt about his guilt?
And I personally know terrorists, rapists, drug dealers, child abusers, repeat drunken drivers, and people who have preyed on the elderly who I don't think deserve impalement. Many are fine folks who have made some bad choices at one time or another.
So I will reiterate a point I try to make often. Every law ever written, every code of conduct ever imposed, every rule of man and god, I have found an exception to. I have found someone for whom that supposed absolute does not stick. That breaks the absolute, rendering it null and void.
There is no Law anywhere!
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2 comments:
Mark Essig's book "Edison and the Electric Chair" asserts that the search for more humane methods of execution was partially (oh, there's so much more to the story!) the result of fears of the elite. A hangin' was a rowdy affair that frequently got out of hand. A nice, quiet disposal of the condemned was needed to keep the rabble from having an excuse to get all riled up.
I do not condone violence, but that being said, perhaps those of us who are of "mean and vile condition" ought to get a little rowdy some time.
I am for the death penalty in certain cases: First Degree Murder, rapist, "terrorist" (those who commit mass murder w/bombs, poisons, etc. for political/religious reasons) and the like. I'd leave drug dealers, drunk drivers and the exploiters of the elderly off of the "kill" list.
Public execution can have a feeling of resolution for a community. Imagine how Oklahoma City would have felt watching McVeigh get impaled? Or a family getting to watch their childs rapist getting it? The way it is now is a very humane way of putting them to sleep like a dog..takes the fun out of it.
As far as codes of conduct...there are no absolutes, they vary from culture to culture.
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