L.A. Liberty

kohenari:

Despite last night’s high profile execution of Troy Davis, I wouldn’t hold your breath for a hard-hitting question about the death penalty in tonight’s GOP debate; that issue, as we all know, was settled earlier this month when Rick Perry expressed his certainty that no innocent person has ever been put to death and the audience cheered wildly about all of the killing he’s overseen.

Isn’t this Ron Paul’s moment to really stand out, though? Doesn’t he believe that the government ought not to be in the business of killing people, just as it ought not to be in the business of taxing them or forcing them to carry health insurance?

I wouldn’t rush to put all of your eggs in that basket. As far as I can tell, Paul has only stated his opposition to the federal death penalty. And I doubt he’ll express even this weak position, given that right-wing pundits have been crowing about their love of executions and that GOP debate crowds have seemed especially blood-thirsty of late.

Ron Paul is against the death penalty. This is one of the few positions he has changed his mind about over the years (he was in favor of it in 1988). It’s expensive, unjustly puts innocents at risk, and tends to unfairly weigh most heavily on minorities.

He understands that a person can forfeit his life (self-ownership) under certain conditions, but the system is unreliable to make this judgement. As a constitutionalist, he respects the autonomy of the individual states and thus knows it is not within the president’s (or the federal government’s) jurisdiction to tell states how to police and prosecute crime. And since he is running for president (and not governor), he thusly stipulates the federal death penalty. But make no mistake, his stance does come into play when nominating judges who will hear capital appeals.

And as far as that last line: when has Ron Paul ever backed away from a position to suit his audience? He holds a number of positions on war, terror, blowback, drug prohibition, foreign aid, monetary policy, etc. that seldom curry favor among neo-cons but he speaks truthfully nonetheless.

(Source: CNN)

Posted September 22, 2011 at 8:10pm in injustice system ∆ Ron Paul riposte kohenari | comments || home