Tuesday, October 10, 2006

 

Worldwide

Now I know, sitting somewhere in Tennessee, we all feel lonely - like we're the only person out there who opposes the death penalty. But today is World Day Against the Death Penalty! And it's a good time to remember that we are not alone. In fact, in the industrialized world, we are in the majority by far. Let's remember, the U.S. is the only Western democracy that uses the death penalty. If we were a European country, we would not be allowed to join the European Union because of our country's violations of human rights (aka our use of the death penalty).

When you check out Amnesty International's World Day Against the Death Penalty page, you'll see actions listed for five countries - China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and us. Now, when talking about any subject regarding human rights, I'm not sure that is the exclusive list that we should want to be a part of.


Of course, a lot of people, my favorite Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia included, will say that other countries don't get to write America's laws. People will say that we should be leading internationally, not following a worldwide opinion poll. But I wonder how legitimate our calls for respect for human rights around the world sound to people in England or Germany where they consider the use of the death penalty a human rights violation.

And be sure to catch Bud Welch speaking in Tennessee this week. His schedule in the post below.


posted by Wiesendanger Permalink  
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