It is in these moments that people who are novices or who are inexperienced in the way of politics, and the long arc of history get frustrated and often walk away. For example, I saw one commenter on Facebook blame the Democrats in the General Assembly for the vote. That person is probably the same type of person who blames President Obama for Republican obstruction. And he, and those like him, need some education on how long and involved a process politics and change is. If you are getting into politics for instant gratification and neverending victories, you will be bitterly disappointed.
Yesterday, the defeat of the Senate Bill 40, which would have repealed the death penalty, by an official vote of 16-23-2, was not a defeat. It was a victory when you look at change and politics from a longer view, or a higher altitude. Over the course of three years, we went from no bill for repeal even being considered, to having it be introduced, pass through the Senate, and die in the House Judiciary Committee, to having it pass the Senate again, and get debated and voted on on the House floor.
Yesterday was a step forward. To be sure, the vast majority of the Democratic caucus voted for the repeal of the death penalty. Step back and think about that for a second, while looking at this vote roster (I have excluded the Republicans voting no, because they are irrelevant to this conversation, well, are irrelevant to most things really).
DEMOCRATIC REPEALERS
Baumbach–YES
Bennett–YES*
Bentz–YES
Bolden–YES
Brady–YES
Heffernan–YES
J. Johnson–YES
Keeley–YES
Kowalko–YES
Lynn–YES
Matthews–YES
Potter–YES
B. Short–YES
M. Smith–YES
Viola–YES
K. Williams–YES**
REPUBLICAN REPEALERS
Miro–YES
Ramone–YES
DEMOCRATIC BETRAYERS
Carson–NO
Jaques–NO
Q. Johnson–NO
Longhurst–NO
Mitchell–NO
Mulrooney–NO
Osienski–NO
Paradee–NO
Schwartzkopf–NO
16 out of the 25 Democratic members of the House of Representatives voted to repeal the death penalty. Nearly two thirds, or 64% of the caucus. Now, remember back to the late 1980’s and 1990’s, when every Democrat was rushing to look moderate and tough on crime, and supporting the death penalty was an easy way to do that. But now the overwhelming majority of the caucus has returned to sanity and returned to progressive values. Pete Schwartzkopf, as a former cop, is a leader without followers in his own party on this issue. Perhaps that is why he and Larry Mitchell allowed this bill to go to the floor: he was facing an uprising by the overwhelming majority of his caucus.
I would like to personally thank Rep. Sean Lynn, who was simply superb yesterday in his prosecution, and that is what it was, of the death penalty and its supporters during the debate. He showed himself to be a damn fine lawyer, and he did it knowing that he may suffer political consequences in his own district. Contrast that profile in courage to that of Valerie Longhurst, to Ed Osienski, to Earl Jaques, to Michael Mulrooney. All four are from safe Democratic districts, so they had nothing to fear politically. So they either voted no out of fear, or they voted no because they actually believe in the death penalty.
I used to be ambivalent on this issue, as Representatives Brady and Representative Short said yesterday. But seeing more and more evidence pile up that the system is not perfect, that the death penalty is not universally applied, that it is actually applied with racial and economic bias, thus making it an arbitrary and capricious punishment, and that we are killing and have killed innocent people; I have gone from ambivalent to an opponent. So such a change is possible, and as more and more time goes by, as more and more evidence piles up, as more and more states repeal it, opposition to the death penalty, and affirmative actions to repeal it, is becoming a required and imperative policy position that must be possessed by anyone wishing to call themselves a Democrat, let alone a progressive or a liberal. Remember, we are the rational party, the party devoted to science and evidence.
We are not that party solely motivated by vengeance, fear and hate. If you want to pass and enforce laws with those emotions as your motivator, join the Red Team.
So I want to personally thank all those with courage to stand for your convictions yesterday, all the yes voters, even the Republican ones. To the no voters, to the Democratic Betrayers, reevaluate your position. Look in the mirror. Why are you for killing? Why do you want to become evil to fight evil? The logic behind the death penalty is the same as the logic for torturing terrorists: that we must lower ourselves to fight our enemies. I disagree. We can keep ourselves, our children, our families, our societies safe, while at the same time standing for higher ideals. It’s called life without parole, which, as we were reminded yesterday, is a much tougher death penalty than the death penalty, since it is death by incarceration.
Finally, if you voted for the death penalty yesterday, do not dare call yourself a Christian. Jesus Christ, you know, the guy you are supposed to be following the teachings of, did not support it. He was against killing your enemies. In fact, he said the opposite, if I recall. If you oppose other things because of your supposed moral code, while at the same time supporting the death penalty, realize that you have no morality.
The fight will continue. Next session (or maybe even this one), the repeal bill will be back. And soon, it will pass. So keep your head up.
*–Bennett was absent but my sources have it that she supports repeal.
**–Williams voted no for procedural reasons, but supports repeal.