clo,
re: "most republicans promote the death penalty"
Most Republicans are no more sophisticated than most Democrats. They are club members, not deep thinkers or philosophy majors.
OCU rightfully noted my hypocrisy about the death penalty. While I tried to justify my thinking (and may have succeeded, if I were being graded by someone impartial) by observing that a murderer may be less than human and is certianly not an INNOCENT human, I knew I was grasping. I was never satisfied with my own line of thought.
Take note: I *do* think and actually TRY to poke holes in my reasoning. When I'm wrong, I change my position. Most people, Conservatives and Liberals, are incapable of doing that. Most don't even want to.
What to do with murderers is a dilemma. It's wrong to kill them... a mortal sin to Christians. But it's also wrong to KEEP them. Prison, after all, is incredibly expensive.
The answer hit me like a ton of bricks. The proper punishment is to kick these people out of society. Ostracize them. Make them DEAD TO US. Ensure they will never, ever, under any circumstances, interact with society again.
The solution is to give the condemned a one way ticket out of society. Prison doesn't accomplish that, but a patrolled, unvisited, absolutely isolated island would.
Men and women would have to be separated or sterilized. Drop 'em off. Sever all future communication. End of story.
It's moral, it works, and it solves the problem of what to do with people who otherwise deserve the death penalty.
Thank you, OCU. Neither of us were able to come up with this on our own - but by collaborating, we did.
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