>Interesting tht Rkmickey doesn't get my point at all. *Pro-death penalty*
>sentiments and *anti-abortion* sentiments are usually related in America
>(with a very limited number of exceptions), about which his post says
>nothing. Lots of Americans--including a good deal of leftists--are more
>into punishment than those in many other countries.
I don't know for sure that pro-death penalty sentiments are usually related to anti-abortion sentiments in America. They often go together, but I think the exceptions may be at least somewhat less limited than you say. What about those Catholics who accept the current teaching of the pope on both subjects? Carrol pointed out that Catholic radicals disagree with the church on abortion, but surely there are many more Catholics who are not radicals. And there seem to me to be more libertarian types who take the Nat Hentoff position than there used to be. The polls I have been able to find on these issues have not been presented in a way that enable me to draw any conclusions about this. Can you direct me to any studies which indicate the level of convergence on the two issues? And, yes, lots of Americans are more into punishment than those in many other countries, but those in at least some other countries are even more into punishment than lots of Americans. The Philipines recently restored the death penalty not only for murder but also for rape. I mentioned China and Japan as examples of countries which seemed to me to exhibit similar acceptance of the death penalty as America while being more straightforward in the acceptance of abortion than the USA. From what I have heard of their penal systems in general, I think that both of those countries are at least as into punishment as this country is. If no Japanese leftist endorses capital punishment, can the same be said of Japanese people in general? If the point is about leftist attitudes to the death penalty, what about Cuba? Vietnam? As far as I know, every marxist regime that took power by armed struggle enthusiastically used the death penalty -- Cuba and Vietnam and China, as well as the former Soviet Union (and perhaps I should have included its succesors among the advanced industrial countires) and the former FSR of Jugoslavia. I think they all also guaranteed the right of women to abortion. In many of the countries of the former Comecon, capital punishment has been abolished while the right of abortion has often been severely restricted. I can't claim to have any analysis that explains all of these various trends but I do think it is much more complicated than you made it out to be.
K.Mickey