Over 15 years ago, my wife and I participated in an AIDS vaccine fundraising bicycle ride from Amsterdam to Paris. We met Europeans along the way and one, in particular, made a lasting impression. My wife asked him what he thought of the politics in the U.S. One thing he said was “why do you still have the death penalty?” No member of the European Union has the death penalty. Ever since then I have been asking that same question.
On Oct. 12, I looked at The Columbian and there, on Page A1, was the headline: “State abolishes death penalty.” To the empty room I exclaimed, “Oh, yea!”
