First Do Unto Yourself The Worst You Would Do Unto Others

I've never believed in Capital Punishment. There are several reasons why we should not execute people. The best reason is that our legal system occasionally convicts an innocent person. That is reason enough. Proponents of Capital Punishment argue that it is an effective deterrent. If that was true Texas would not continue to lead the nation in executions.

However, recently I'm tempted to suggest that Capital Punishment is justifiable for a certain group of beings. These are terrorists that are hell bent on killing to further their political or so-called religious agenda. If death is the reward they seek I think it’s high time that we accommodate their wish. Our staying on high moral ground only benefits the terrorist. Our current punishment is not a deterrent. Turn the other cheek to this enemy and he will cut your throat in both directions.

There will be no negotiated settlement, no win-win agreement, with these terrorists. The terrorists’ objective is our destruction. We are not fighting over a piece of this world. We are defending our existence in this world.

The Muslim terrorist is not the only enemy of mankind that is unwilling to share this world with others. For instance, when the Hutus slaughtered 800,000 Tutsis, the Hutu’s objective was more than the political control of Rwanda and not just reclaiming the property that had once been theirs. The objective of the Hutus was the complete destruction of the Tutsis. They intended to kill every Tutsi man, woman and child even though many of them were neighbors, relatives and in-laws. The Hutus would not be satisfied with sharing; there would be no win-win agreement.

I hate to use the term Evil but I can not think of a more appropriate descriptor for these terrorists. The inhabitants of this world don’t have to be of one mind but to coexist peacefully they must have mutual respect. People should be proud of whom they are yet not think they are above other people. I am proud to be an American but I do not believe that I am better than those who are not American. Pride is fine. Arrogance and disrespecting others is not.

Evil is what I call people who wish to destroy other ideas and the people that believe in them. I also believe that evil people will not be reformed. Could Hitler have been reformed? Could those who carried out Hitler’s wishes have been reformed? No. I do not believe that people with the capacity to slaughter innocents can peacefully share this world with others. A Hutu that is willing to kill his neighbors in exchange for a farm of his own will not, in my opinion, be reformed.

There is no room is this world for people that won’t share this world with others. There is no place in this world for ideologies that exclude all others. Such people and ideologies are non-negotiating and beyond reform.

A few years ago following some senseless slaughter of innocents I thought of a solution I called the “Kevorkian Express”. Every person in the world would have to answer one question, “Do you want to kill anybody else in this world?” If their answer is yes, they would die. They would not be killed by others. They would in a sense have killed themselves by expressing a desire to kill another. The Kevorkian Express turns evil upon itself. You can think of it as a minor modification of the Golden Rule. First do unto yourself the worst you would do unto others.

I’m not suggesting that others should be killed or I too would be eliminated by the Kevorkian Express. Rather, I am merely suggesting that each of us should first treat ourselves just as we would mistreat another.

There should be no court of appeal for Evil and there should be no court of appeal for terrorists. Catch them. Give them a ticket to the Kevorkian Express. No arraignment, no trial, no appeal, no probation, no parole, no pardon. Let them answer the Question.