Crimes, Plural
With Joe Biden’s popularity rising in battleground states (according to several recent polls), Democratic lobbyists and party officials are urging the presidential candidate to try and win over purple and even conservative-leaning states like Georgia and Texas. But most of his advisors are urging a more conservative path, encouraging him to focus on states he knows he can win. David and Sarah discuss these opposing strategies and offer their insights on what a winning 2020 presidential campaign should keep in mind.
In today’s episode, they also discuss the president’s pardoning power, theological and constitutional arguments related to the death penalty, and Trump’s tweet about re-examining the tax-exempt status of academic institutions that “are about Radical Left Indoctrination, not Education.” They wrap the podcast by responding to a listener’s question about what to include in an intro philosophy course.
Show Notes:
-New York Times piece on warring factions within Biden’s campaign, Fox News poll, University of Texas poll, Dallas Morning News poll, CBS/YouGov poll.
-Death penalty opinion.
-Andrew Kent’s congressional testimony.
-Ex Parte Garland case from 1866.
-Notes on Virginia ratifying convention from Brookings Institution.
-“The Traditional Interpretation of the Pardon Power Is Wrong” Atlantic article by Corey Brettschneider and Jeffrey K. Tulis.
-John Rawls’ A Theory of Justice.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
That was fun, I love you guys....you go well together and laugh a lot, and that matters
I am anti-capital punishment ( no surprise I am sure to anyone who has read other of my posts) on moral grounds anyway, I tend to be against killing in almost any circumstance, and I am not a fan of what I see as playing "God".....and I also think it tends to be about revenge, not justice...I would be one of those family members who wouldn't want it done, life imprisonment is good enough for me......but, all that said, our system is broken and I don't think it is being applied fairly at all, and often not even with the certainty of guilt, and the fact that money can save you from it...I am all for reform in this area...
I would so be in for Yellowstone and dinosaurs and other weird but fun things
Two quick additional points on the death penalty...
1) I never want to miss an opportunity to direct people to this Vanity Fair piece by Christopher Hitchens, among the most impactful condemnations of US death penalty jurisprudence I have ever read:
https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/1999/6/old-enough-to-die
2) Would love to hear Sarah and David's views on an old case, Collins v Herrera. It is a decision that is somewhat complicated procedurally, but the part I'd like to hear from you two on is whether you concur with the court's assertion that executing a person who had received due process but was factually innocent is not unconstitutional. I find that to be a plausible but somewhat jarring conclusion.