Georgia Democrats are mulling legislation sponsored by State Senator Vincent Fort, of Atlanta, that would place a moratorium on executions in Georgia and create a commission to study how our state metes out capital punishment. The Macon Telegraph is carrying the AP story.
I'll be brief - this legislation isn't going anywhere, and I'm happy about that. There are real problems with Georgia's capital punishment system that have got to be fixed, and I'm glad Vincent is trying to focus attention on them. But Georgia is pretty red on capital punishment, which means that bills like this divide Democrats and not Republicans. We can't win the debate on abolishing capital punishment outright any more than Republicans can win the debate on abolishing abortion outright (except in alternate realities like South Dakota), and I get the unsettling feeling that that's where Vincent wants to go with this. We need the right message on this issue, and that message should focus on fixing the death penalty rather than doing away with it.
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2 Comments:
I-285 is a Perimeter, not a Beltway.
If you don't like the death penalty, don't go all "strategic" on us and say it shouldn't be mentioned.
Sounds like a Washington Democrat.
We need real Democrats, fighting Democrats, Democrats who believe in things and fight for those beliefs.
The other kind deserve to be defeated.
Where did I say it shouldn't be mentioned? I believe in fixing, not abolishing, capital punishment. I'm all for being outspoken to that effect. All I said was that I think our capital punishment message is going to be important in this state and that I have doubts as to whether Vincent Fort's message is the right one.
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