The death penalty, abortion and the rule of law.
By: Hank Kalet
James Carroll in today’s Boston Globe offers an interesting exploration of the split between the private and the public when it comes to matters of conscience. His peg is the election as the governor of Virginia of a Democrat who says he is opposed to the death penalty, but would not foist his personal opposition on the public. He would, therefore, uphold capital punishment and not get in the way of its brutal machinery.
Timothy M. Kaine’s approach, of course, is no different than John Kerry’s or abortion or Mario Cuomo’s. Or, apparently, the political wing of the Catholic church in America, which is very willing to condemn politicians who support abortion rights and oppose the death penalty while it says nothing about those pols who oppose abortion though support the death penalty. Both the abortion and the death penalty violate the church’s teachings, so what gives?
I’ll wait for an answer.