> Actually, yes. I would disapprove of her nudging him -- but it would be
> a mere personal act and would not have the deeply corrupting political
> force that formal executions have.
I think the main question you have to ask is: does your notion of punishment in a society include the ultimate punishment of death? Saying that you're only against it if it's carried out by the state seems inconsistent to me. It is, afterall, a reflection of "the will of the people" and so it has to start with a personal conviction.
A few threads ago, someone asked: who has the right to take a life? I almost answered: anyone who is acting in self-defense. That should make both the personal cliff-nudging and state-sponsored injection or electrocution answer easy: does killing Timothy McVeigh provide for a valid self-defense claim?
One of my biggest objections to the death penalty is that it's often used as a "revenge" tool. When Joanna said
> I'd like to nudge him over a cliff, myself.
I guess I just don't see this as "merely" something personal.
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Do we have other ideas that are "okay" to express "merely personally" that we're violently opposed to the state expressing?
/jordan