Death Penalty

I am opposed to the death penalty. Now, don't get me wrong, I am sure there are people who deserve to die. What I am opposed to is the way our justice system arrives at the decision to kill someone. Half the time they have wrong guy. All the time it takes millions of dollars in lawyers fees and court room costs. Of course it does keep reporters employed reporting on these shenanigans, and it does keep people entertained hearing about these court room circuses, but I am sure reporters can find something else to report on that would keep the masses entertained.

What about the supposed deterrent effect generated by having a death penalty? I think we can do more for society by redirecting our resources. For instance we could do something about prisons. Take the crazy people out, put them in houses dedicated to dealing with crazy people. Relieve the overcrowding in prisons. Try some real rehabilitation instead of warehousing.

And then there is the whole drug business. As long as we have laws against drugs and we continue to enforce them, we are going to have problems with them. The sooner we legalize drugs and start taxing them, the sooner we can send all the trigger happy cops over to the middle east, or whatever hot spot is in need of some additional turmoil.

Note that I am not saying all the cops. I suspect that some people are drawn to law enforcement by the opportunities for violent confrontation, and I suspect the DEA has a bigger attraction than most. Now the way we are running the "War on Drugs", this is probably the kind of people we need in law enforcement, but I am totally opposed to the "War on Drugs". I think it is stupid and misguided waste of everyone's time and energy. The only thing positive is that it keeps a fair number of people involved in hostile cat and mouse games. Should the "War on Drugs" ever be called off, these people are going to be out of a job. Oh, they might pick up jobs as shop keepers or truck drivers, but that is not really the same as planning an assault with automatic weapons, is it?