"Capital Punishment" Critique

  I think Elizabeth Sexton's editorial on capital punishment does a great job engaging the reader and highlights serious issues with the current system. I think that the debate over capital punishment often focuses on the morality of taking a persons life but she brings up an interest point of whether it is  constitutionally acceptable to kill someone. I suppose one could compare it to the country's ability to wage war, essentially killing people to stop inhumane acts. If capital punishment could be considered war against heinous crimes, then I could concede that government could require a persons life. The key to the issue currently, as Sexton points out, is that the justice system is in no way fool proof. I agree that there needs to be an iron-clad guilty verdict for someone to be considered for the death penalty. I would certainly hate to imagine myself at the mercy of "peers" with my life at stake. With a crime that is so terrible it warrants the death penalty, I think that emotion could cause the judgment of those involved to be suspect.

  All that being said, I still think that the death penalty may not be the "right" option. It is very hard to decide that we should be killing people. Ideally, I would say that those people, and all criminals, should be made to work for the benefit of the citizens. I have a hard time understanding how you can have all these prisoners and not have them doing something that would make up for their costs of living, besides making license plates... I think that capital punishment should definitely not be a cost consideration. Is it okay to pay these costs for a rapist, but not a rapist and murderer?


  So, if there isn't the cost incentive and the system is just, should we still use capital punishment? My answer is I don't know. I think that the government could, for the good of the people, although this is somewhat accounted for by simply imprisoning the criminal. I think it comes down to revenge vs retribution, as Sexton writes. If I was affected by a crime like these, I would want more than death for the criminal, but with a policy standpoint I don't like giving this power to others.


  In conclusion, I think Elizabeth Sexton does a great job presenting the issues on a very controversial topic. She provides many examples showing where capital punishment might have work as well as those situations where it seems to have been lacking, and ultimately may have cost an innocent person his or her life. I think she makes a very good argument for improving the system by which people are given these sentences and I enjoyed reading and commenting on her work.

Those Lying Politicians

If someone was to ask you whether you believe most politicians have lied at one time or another in their career, what would be your answer? Mine would absolutely be yes. Why is this though? I can't give any examples of a politician lying off the top of my head, with the exception of the whole Bill Clinton deal... But for some reason I still have a deep distrust of them, even to the extent of questioning simple statements that have no real importance. I assume that it's been an accumulation of questionable behavior that has led to my distrust, but I wonder why do they lie and why do others still get so involved.

If I had to guess as to why politicians feel like it is acceptable to lie, I would say that they most likely feel like they can get away with it. You would think that media would lessen this, and I'm sure it does, but when you are talking to an audience and they hear you say something they are much more likely to believe you then they are to take that information and filter it for credibility. Politicians will say what you want to hear to get your vote. If they say something and gain 100 votes then half hear that it wasn't true then they are still ahead 50 votes. It is a numbers game, if you have the potential to gain more votes by lying then you risk losing then it is a good bet.

Eventually the outcome of lying is voter distrust and apathy. Democracy depends on the voter, and if voter turnout continues the way it has been going, then officials will become less and less the representatives of the governed. I think this is the way things have been moving towards for a long time. The government is a club of wealthy men and women who seek to stay in office more than serving in the office they're in. I hope that one day I can trust that politicians have the greater good as their top priority but I think that they won't be the ones to lead us into the future. I think it's the innovators that will open up new opportunities for us in the future and that policy and policymakers will keep trying to play catch up and grab as much power and money as they can.


http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/01/22/why-politicians-get-away-with-lying/when-lies-become-the-norm-in-politics
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201104/why-politicians-lie-and-how-they-get-away-it

Gas Price Review

In Mr. Verheyden's editorial last week he reviewed gas prices and whether they are they result of any one party. He notes that there have been considerable debate to who's fault it is, with each side blaming the other. I think it is reasonable that he says "The truth... lies somewhere in the middle." He mentions that Obama's administration has said that it is not the supply side that is causing the high gas prices, which I think is not an clear statement. As Mr. Verheyden pointed out in his editorial, if there is insufficient supply, prices will go up. What I believe Obama was most likely saying was that increasing domestic supply, as Republicans seek, will have little effect on gas prices. This I can agree with, and Mr. Verheyden points out as well. He says that domestic production has increased in the time that Obama has been in office, it's smart to note that it may not be his doing, and that gas prices have not gone down. It is important to realize that oil is a global commodity and that many factors can affect the prices including global supply reductions from unrest in the middle east to the continual increase in demand in growing countries like China. I think that if domestic production could have a great effect on the price of gas, than we would have seen clear evidence of this. I believe that oil is out of our control and that the best choice is to remove ourselves from depending on it.