There's only one problem with the capital punishment debate in America.
We never have it.
While those of us who believe the death penalty is sadly necessary are willing to argue our point of view, those who oppose the death penalty in all cases never engage us in that debate anymore. In fact, we haven't had a real death penalty debate at the forefront of American politics in about 32 years.
Instead, the anti-death penalty interests in this country conduct their arguments in insidious and even cowardly ways, all in effort to avoid a clear yes or no debate about the death penalty itself.
You've seen the pattern. Whether it's working behind the scenes to force the companies that make lethal injection drugs to halt production, or trying to halt DNA testing that could be used to exonerate some convicts, (but would inevitably solidify the convictions of many more), or pressuring presidents and governors to issue blanket pardons and clemencies, the anti-death penalty movement tries to win without really even having to make its case to the public.
The reason they do this is because they'd lose every time, and they know it. No national poll in modern U.S. history has ever shown that a majority of Americans oppose the death penalty.
By all rights, liberal politicians in America abandoned publicly admitting any opposition they had to death penalty laws in 1992. That was the year then-candidate Bill Clinton closed the book on the national debate when he made his support for capital punishment clear throughout his presidential campaign. Coming four years after Michael Dukakis' disastrous response to Bernie Shaw's hypothetical debate question about what he would do if his wife Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, most Democrats were relieved Clinton was so clear and consistent on the topic.
But while that taught liberal politicians to be quiet about opposition to the death penalty, it also taught capital punishment opponents to operate in the clandestine, or at least indirect ways described above.
The results of this pussyfooting around are mixed, for everyone involved.
While the sheer number of executions in the U.S. has slowed to a trickle, the process has become less humane. Because of the shrinking availability of less painful lethal injection drugs, some states have simply taken their chances with expired drugs, or even reverted to more brutal forms of execution.
Meanwhile, the message to the most violent criminals has been made crystal clear: America's radical left will defend you and your life no matter what. Consequently, our prisons are filling up with more and more extremely violent murderers who will live out their lives there at the taxpayer's expense.
Let's talk a bit more about those most violent convicts. Let's say we only decided to execute the most horrific murderers currently on death row. For argument's sake, we'll only focus on those who tortured their victims, killed multiple people, did so in absolute cold blood, with corroborating DNA evidence and no reasonable doubt connected to their convictions. Furthermore, let's say we would just execute one of those murderers per week.
If we did just that, we would have to conduct an execution a week for several years. Yep, that's how long it would take. If you don't believe me, just read the rap sheets of all the roughly 2,200 prisoners on death row in the U.S. now, and you'll see the kinds of people in the cue. It's hundreds who committed multiple murders, dozens who murdered children, and an innumerable amount who also committed acts of rape and other torture on their victims in addition to killing them.
America needs to get busy fully punishing just those folks for a very long time before we even come close to debating some of the less horrifying murder convictions or the cases where some of the key facts are even remotely in doubt. That's how bad it is right now when it comes to meting out justice to even the very worst criminals in America.
For that we can thank the anti-death penalty movement that doesn't want to have an up or down vote on capital punishment, state by state. They don't want to even try for a constitutional amendment to ban it.
Why bother when you can bully a drug or chemical company board behind the scenes, or even more quietly pressure or bribe lame duck presidents and governors to commute the sentences of one horrific killer after another?
But whenever the leaders of the anti-capital punishment forces want to have a real public debate about this issue, I and a majority of their fellow Americans will be ready. We just need someone courageous enough to do it.
Jake Novak is a political and economic analyst. He's host of American Sunrise Early Edition with Jake Novak on Real America's Voice.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
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