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posted by takyon on Saturday June 20 2015, @11:30PM   Printer-friendly

"At some point as a country, we have to reckon with what happens. It's not enough to express sympathy. You don't see this kind of murder, on this scale, with this kind of frequency in other advanced countries on earth." - President Obama.

Discuss.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday June 21 2015, @02:28AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 21 2015, @02:28AM (#198901) Journal

    Nonsense. Small communities can support and enforce the death penalty. It has happened often enough in history. Individual human beings are capable of enforcing the death penalty, small groups and small communities - it happened long before "big government" was created. Or, "unlimited government", as you say.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2015, @02:40AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2015, @02:40AM (#198906)

    Nonsense. Small communities can support and enforce the death penalty.

    Not without unlimited government. A government that can murder captured people is one with too much power.

    Unlimited government can be local.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday June 21 2015, @04:50AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 21 2015, @04:50AM (#198945) Journal

      Not without unlimited government.

      [...]

      Unlimited government can be local.

      No it can't. For "local" is a constraint. And by definition, unlimited government doesn't have any constraints.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2015, @01:05PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 21 2015, @01:05PM (#199059)

        No it can't. For "local" is a constraint.

        Why not just say that no government is technically unlimited, then? Big, unlimited... whatever you want to call it.

        • (Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday June 21 2015, @08:25PM

          by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 21 2015, @08:25PM (#199189) Journal

          Why not just say that no government is technically unlimited, then?

          Because it's not true? Just because a government can kill people under certain legal situations doesn't mean that it can arbitrarily kill people. For example, is a government "technically unlimited" because its law enforcement can kill in self-defense?

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 22 2015, @01:34AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 22 2015, @01:34AM (#199246)

            Because it's not true? Just because a government can kill people under certain legal situations doesn't mean that it can arbitrarily kill people.

            Defending yourself or others from imminent (not hypothetical) physical harm is the only situation I can see where killing is acceptable. Deciding that someone should die after they've already been captured is an example of big government, if you prefer that term.

            • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday June 22 2015, @02:09AM

              by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 22 2015, @02:09AM (#199253) Journal

              Deciding that someone should die after they've already been captured is an example of big government, if you prefer that term.

              That term is inappropriate too, because small governments can exercise that sort of power too. And it still depends on what sort of constraints legal and otherwise exist on the government officials.