Reply #116: I support the First Amendment except in cases where the free speech offends me [View All]

[RufusTFirefly]

I'm distressed by the conditional nature of some people's opposition to the death penalty.
Let's face it: It's easy to oppose the death penalty in situations where there is too much doubt.
Just as it is easy to support the First Amendment rights of those with whom you are in agreement.
What's hard is to protect the human rights of people who are clearly scum.
Just as it is hard to love thine enemy.
But even though I am not a Christian, I believe that is what we must do.
The death penalty is inhumane and barbaric. Always. Most "civilized" countries have already realized this.
Its continuance in this country is a cancer on our body politic.
The same sick impulse that allows us to continue the death penalty permits us to look the other way when people are tortured in our name or when people who are ill or need help are abandoned because of their inability to pay.