{"id":4870,"date":"2016-07-26T22:01:34","date_gmt":"2016-07-27T04:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=4870"},"modified":"2016-07-26T22:01:34","modified_gmt":"2016-07-27T04:01:34","slug":"what-about-being-personally-opposed-to-the-death-penalty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/07\/what-about-being-personally-opposed-to-the-death-penalty.html","title":{"rendered":"What about being “personally opposed” to the death penalty?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"from<\/p>\n

So lots of people are upset that Tim Kaine is a professing Catholic who has a 100% abortion-rights voting record. \u00a0Nothing new under the sun, really, though.<\/p>\n

What I am more interested in, however, is the pairing of \u201cpersonal opposition\u201d to abortion, and to the death penalty, for instance in a campaign ad from his 2005 gubernatorial campaign,\u00a0as linked to by Ann Althouse<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s interesting to think about. \u00a0We\u2019re quite used to the claims of being \u201cpersonally opposed\u201d when it comes to abortion, as a way of trying to square the circle, and profess to be faithful to both Catholic doctrine and Democratic Party doctrine.<\/p>\n

But can you be personally opposed to the death penalty, and still sign death warrants as governor? \u00a0Our second-most-recent criminal governor (literally a convicted criminal), George Ryan, decided that the answer was \u201cno,\u201d<\/a> and instituted a moratorium on the death penalty and then commuted the sentences of all those on death row before he left office \u2014 and he was not a stereotypical bleeding-heart liberal but simply announced that he believed that the risk of executing a guilty man was not one he wanted to take. \u00a0(Unlike Blago, he was not indicted until after he left office.)<\/p>\n

Of course, Ryan didn\u2019t campaign with a position on the death penalty one way or the other, and he never had the need, as Kaine believed he did, to assure voters he\u2019d enforce the death penalty, in order to win an election with voters skeptical of his politics.<\/p>\n

Now, if you\u2019re \u201cpersonally opposed\u201d to the death penalty insofar as you believe there\u2019s a risk of executing an innocent man, then you could always rationalize that, as governor, you\u2019d make extra sure that you\u2019d only accept the death penalty for those for whom there was complete certainty of guilt, and no mitigating factors to consider.<\/p>\n

But if you believe that the death penalty is inherently wrong, that the state should never be in the business of executing criminals, no matter what, well, then I just don\u2019t see how you can accept signing a death warrant. \u00a0Do you tell yourself, \u201cthe executions would happen regardless of who was governor; at least I can do what I can to lessen the risk of a wrong execution, or to ensure the execution is humane\u201d? \u00a0Do you tell yourself that you would implement all manner of programs that benefit the poor and needy, so if you have to sign a few death warrants, that\u2019s a small price to pay?<\/p>\n

Me, I know that Catholic doctrine is that the death penalty should only be used as a \u201clast resort,\u201d and that in one of his encyclicals, JPII wrote that in modern Western nations, the conditions under which the death penalty was acceptable simply didn\u2019t exist, because we have the ability to imprison criminals for life, instead. \u00a0At the same time, I can\u2019t get myself to care all that much \u2014 these are criminals, after all, guilty of heinous crimes.<\/p>\n

But if you are a true opponent of the death penalty, if you believe it\u2019s morally wrong,\u00a0seems to me \u00a0you violate those moral principles in signing that death warrant, and announce that your opposition isn\u2019t so, well, oppositional<\/em>, anyway.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

image from pixabay, https:\/\/pixabay.com\/en\/sling-hangman-hanging-knot-1222466\/<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So lots of people are upset that Tim Kaine is a professing Catholic who has a 100% abortion-rights voting record. \u00a0Nothing new under the sun, really, though. 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