Talk about sanitizing the truth. Why is it that state politicians who have duped the public into believing the death penalty is a good idea think that it should all be behind closed doors? Bring back the gallows, the guillotine and the masked executioner. Put these killings on public display, on cable television and we’ll even podcast them.

The damn truth about the death penalty is that we don’t want to accept that a vote for the death penalty is murder, plain and simple. Oh sure, we convince ourselves that it’s OK to end a life if it’s with a simple injection.

If I was faced the prospect of being a victim of state sponsored murder I would want it to be public. Let the jury know what they did. Let the voters know what they did.

Give me a few valiums and march me out to a 50 foot guillotine in McArthur Square, drop the blade and televise the whole bloody thing. But forget the basket — if the state’s going to put out a legalized hit on me, I want my head to roll off the decking. That’s how I’d like it done. If voters think it’s such a good thing, then put it on all the network televisions during prime time — let’s say 7pm when the whole family can watch. After all, advocates of the death penalty say it’s only the right thing to do right? If it’s the right thing to do, then isn’t it fine for their kids to watch?

Of course I wouldn’t seriously advocate for kids to watch such a grisly scene. I’m making a point. The point is that if parents are going to support state-sponsored murder, then we should see what is happening. Parents should have to explain to their children why murder is ok. Try to explain that one to a 6 year old. ‘No little Johnny, killing is wrong… but there are always exceptions to the rule’.

Now there’s an advisory referendum on the ballot in November asking voters if we should bring back the death penalty. I guess legislators who put it there aren’t burdened by a moral compass like so many of the rest of us are.

Cowboys like State Senator Lassee (a pro-murder legislator) want the public to believe that an eye for an eye is the right thing to do. Call me crazy, and maybe this is just my Catholic upbringing, but didn’t some wise man say “turn the other cheek”?

It will be interesting to see if the state which was the first to abolish the death penalty for all crimes and with the motto “Forward” takes a giant step backward by enacting this ill-thought out policy of state sponsored murder.