The Death Penalty

I grew up being pro-death penalty and can remember the use of the firing squad in Draper and the controversy it stirred up in 1996. I remember reading newspaper articles and wondering why it took them so long to execute this violent criminal who had been on Death Row for 8 years. The violence and disregard for human life and dignity with which the crimes those on Death Row have been found guilty of, in my mind, do deserve the death penalty. Rape, murder, torture, and child molestation are gross and sickening crimes which, if a person is proven guilty of, deserve more than life in prison. These are societal ills which I believe puts a person beyond the hope of rehabilitation and merits the death penalty. However, my position on the death penalty has changed in the past year in light of my more moderate political stance and my desire to learn about both sides of the political issues that seem so divisive in our country. I currently believe that capital punishment should be abolished. My concerns about the death penalty are twofold. First, I worry about the humaneness of the ways in which these executions are carried out; the electric chair, firing squad, and even lethal injection, in my mind fall under the constitutionally prohibited category of cruel and unusual punishment. Second, and probably more troubling, is the fact that many innocent people have died by capital punishment and many more sit on Death Row currently. The case in Texas, where Clarence Brandley was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death by racist circumstances for the rape and murder of Cheryl Dee Ferguson is only one instance among many where innocent individuals are “railroaded” by the police and the district attorney or wrongly convicted by a “jury of their peers”. In some cases, these people are spared by appeal; in others, they die in their innocence, failed by a system established to protect the innocent and punish the guilty. They have been betrayed by our judicial system and had one of their most basic rights, the right to life, taken away by a government that should, above all, protect that right. How does this happen? How does the judicial system, with its focus on rights and proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt send an innocent person to Death Row? It is because the system is rife with perverse incentives; for prosecutors, the incentive is to achieve a 100% conviction rate, for judges, the political pressure to reduce crime often results in stiffer sentences, and many defendants are defended by public defenders, who have little incentive to win. The result is that aggressive prosecution leads to false convictions, and many worthy appeals go unheard for lack of resources. With this in mind, we should stop use of the death penalty in every state and work toward a more reversible form of punishment.

Why I love Politics

I have always had a strong love of government and the political process. I'm not quite sure where this love was born; I can't point to a single moment growing up that made me love politics. I remember sticking fliers on doors when I was about twelve or thirteen for my dad's City Council campaign in Kaysville. I remember attending City Council meetings and hearing the debates about the issues that affected my parents and those in my community. Before that, I had always been interested in government, but more in the idealistic sense. I was, and still am, amazed at the structure of the United States government and the process of the creation of the Constitution. As I have grown older, I have come to see the value in the criticisms offered by others: that politics are messy, not representative, and that the voice of an individual are not heard. While I understand these critiques, and I will not say that they are void of merit, I would argue that the positives of the political system far outweigh the negatives, and that the negatives may not be as bad as they seem. Our political system, in fact, is characterized by the negatives as well as the positives. Don't worry... I'm not so idealistic that I don't get frustrated with the political process at times as well. I do, at times, get frustrated with the political process, but it's usually more by the extreme partisanship and ignorance that is exhibited in our political system. I love politics because it has the power for good. Yes, there is the possibility that it can be abused and used for purposes contrary to the greater good, but this is characteristic of any great power for good. It is in the transcending of this power to do ill that the power for good is realized. For example, the most common criticisms of politics are that government is too responsive to the desires of special interest groups or lobbyists with deep pockets. I have also heard the concern that a single voice doesn't matter, and that politicians do not always act with the greatest interest at heart. The strength of the influence of interest groups in the United States Government is often seen as a negative thing; that these groups have more of a say in Washington than individuals. These groups, however, represent greater groups of people like you and me. Politicians, I agree, do often lose sight of the greater good and look to secure privileges for their campaign contributors and powerful constituents back home. However, by the sheer number of people in the United States Government, these specific interests are moderated and centered. The interests on the extremes are brought to the center. On another note, the voice of an individual does matter. Even if you are a Democrat in Utah (using an example of a gross minority), your voice still matters because you are fulfilling your civic duty by voting and taking part in your local and national government. It is through the individual's participation in government that changes are made eventually, even if they disagree with what may be happening currently. All in all, I love the power for good that resides in our governmental structure. Government is the way in which the negative effects of individuals are restrained and in which individuals are protected from abuse or harm. The rights in the Bill of Rights apply to all citizens of the United States, and others I believe should apply to all. The Constitution contains the establishment of rights entitled to individuals, that must be protected by government. While government can often be the embodiment of these abuses, I feel that they are corrected down the road, and that ultimately the rights of the individual will be preserved. However, it takes the attention and participation of each individual citizen of this country to make sure that these rights are preserved for us and future generations. While the political process may not be perfect, it is the best we have. It is the means by which we can work for the greater good and protect the fundamental rights of citizens.

George W. In Africa

For as much Bush bashing as I and others have done over the past few years (and heaven knows we had enough ammo), I have got to say that I respect Bush's efforts in Africa. Granted, he is a lame duck and it may be merely posturing for history, but I have got to say that I am impressed that the issues Africans live with every day were finally deemed significant enough to merit the attention of our Commander in Chief. For all Clinton did in office, and all the praise he receives for his foreign policy efforts, the Black Hawk Incident in Somalia scared the Clinton Administration badly enough that we stood by and watched the Rwandan genocide occur, where between 800,000 and 1,000,000 Rwandans were shot or mutilated with machetes by their own neighbors and friends. President Kagame of Rwanda, in a news conference in Kigali, stated that bush had done more for Africa than any other previous American president. Powerful words, and they accent admirable actions by a man who many Americans have come to view extremely cynically. I believe that the events in Africa do deserve the attention of the international community, and the mere fact that it has taken so long for the genocide in Darfur to be noticed is inexcusable. Over 2.5 million people have been driven from their villages and homes and the world turns a blind eye because there is no oil under the ground on which they fight. I only hope that Bush's actions don't go unnoticed by the world at large. All in all, the world needs to take note and do something to end the violence, end AIDS, aid in famine and drought, and remember that there is a continent south of Europe.

The United States Immigration Issue

For those of you who know me, you know that I lean toward being a little more liberal on the immigration debate. While I don't support amnesty because the laws of the land must be upheld and honored, I believe that there must be a more realistic path to citizenship in this country and that if people are going to come from Mexico, or Canada, or China, or Japan, or Albania, if they are willing to assimilate and work here, they should be entitled to the protections of our government and the fundamental rights that we all share. While I recognize that the problem that a lot of people have with illegal immigration is that United States taxpayers are forced to bear the brunt of welfare and health care costs for illegal immigrants, the problem is not to be solved by demonizing those who have come here illegally. Rather, we should reform our immigration policy as well as our welfare and health care systems to solve these problems. The reason I have become so worked up about this issue is that I received an email late last night from a former classmate along the lines that I have described. It detailed the immigration situation through the eyes of a school teacher who teaches at one of the schools where the much-publicized protests occurred recently. While it made a valid point about the costs of health care and welfare for illegal immigrants, it was couched in language of "them" against "us". It is precisely this prejudicial and inflammatory language and this way of thinking that will prevent us from coming to a working solution. Feel free to disagree with me. I know many do. But if we are going to find a solution to the problems that ail our country we must think as one, not as a divided, factious nation.