In Real Life, a Power We Shouldn't Have

One of the paradoxes about conservatives and the death penalty is the same people who think government is incompetent to do anything right (even trash collection should be privatized!) has complete certainty that our arcane criminal justice system works well enough to not accidentally execute the innocent.

Richard Cohen makes that point in the Washington Post today.

Whatever the case, no execution is a private act. Every time the state executes someone, it threatens the rest of us. The power to take life is too awesome to be given to government. It's not just that it has been abused throughout history, it's also that governments are incompetent at it. After all, the same government that assured us that Iraq bristled with weapons of mass destruction also guarantees that there is nary a slip between the cup and the lip when it comes to executions. Lately DNA testing has given the lie to that. Mistakes are still being made. Sorry.

I know there are at least 119 people who very much agree with Cohen.