Proposed Constitutional Amendment

No state, government body or entity, duly empowered by the people, shall be granted, by legislation or other means, the power to perform any act that shall be, when applied to the people, prohibited by law.

 

GTB

Teresa Lewis tekin af lífi

Athugasemdir

[Helgi (IP-tala skráð) 24.9.2010 kl. 07:36]

Hmm...

Will this amendment apply to taxes?

[Gregg Thomas Batson, 24.9.2010 kl. 07:59]

I think we should work on capital punishment first. But, yeah, why not?

GTB

[Laxinn, 24.9.2010 kl. 08:33]

Some people deserve to die. Like this bitch.

[Heiða (IP-tala skráð) 24.9.2010 kl. 08:54]

I don´t think it´s up to us to decide who lives or dies! Who gave us the right to take another life and are we any better then?!

[Ingvar Linnet (IP-tala skráð) 24.9.2010 kl. 09:19]

According to the law it is also prohibitied to jail somebody without the proper authorization?

This is way to wide, I am against capital punishment but this sets a ban on all sanctions of any kinds used by the government.

[Laxinn, 24.9.2010 kl. 09:32]

If someone killed your father and brother wouldn't you like to see justice served? Is capital punishment not just in cases such as these?

[Gregg Thomas Batson, 24.9.2010 kl. 10:16]

Ingvar,

Perhaps it was not worded optimally, but the purpose of the proposal was to point out that it is illegal for an individual to kill someone, but legal for the government to do so.  It does not make sense that the people can give power to a "state" (which is nothing more than a large group of people), but the same group of people would be imprisoned for killing the person "without authority". How then can the people "give" the authority if they do not possess the authority themselves? 

Laxinn,

I have not passed judgement on whether a person "deserves" to die for their crimes.  If someone killed a member of my family, I would most likely want that person dead.  In Iceland, I would kill the person myself because I would be out of prison in about 8 years. The difference between me killing a murderer and the state doing it,though, is that for me to do it would be a crime, and I would be held responsible for my actions, regardless of how "right" my actions were. Perhaps the jury or judge would feel sympathy and give a lighter sentence, but I would be held responsible.  The "state" may kill a person with impunity, and that makes for a very dangerous situation, as they may kill legally, even if a person was actually innocent. Innocent people are imprisoned all the time and I can guarantee that some have been executed. As I wrote to Ingvar, it does not make sense that people can give power to collectively murder, and that is my only point.

GTB

[Svavar (IP-tala skráð) 24.9.2010 kl. 10:51]

31 years ago my mum's sister was pushed by some random guy,she fell on the ground and landed on the back of her head and died instantly,the guy served only one and a half year in jail,and i was pretty happy cos something within him died and i hope he lives a long live.

i dont like the fact that people are put out of their misery

by authority when their misery is the whole point!

that lady who had her husband and her stepson killed

is now in her long sleep where everything perfectly stands still in a serene oblivion!

authorities might had just given her million dollars and

a house by the beach where you have the mountain in the back and a 69 corvette in the driving way!

i see no difference at all!!

justice is a hag from hell!

[Rex (IP-tala skráð) 24.9.2010 kl. 11:08]

Since I'm not a man of many words I'd propose you'd all listen to Charlie Daniel's "Simple man" which says exactly what I think.

We are living in a society that makes perpetrator into victims of society and their surroundings, how the legal and social system failed them. Boho! Don't do the crime if you can't do the time !

[Arngrímur Eiríksson (IP-tala skráð) 24.9.2010 kl. 11:13]

Gregg: What about the fact that a majority of American citizens support the death penalty?

[Gregg Thomas Batson, 24.9.2010 kl. 11:43]

Arngrímur,

Yeah, what about it? Most Americans support the death penalty (60-70 percent), that is true. What is really odd is that most Americans consider themselves Christians too. Something is wrong there. Given what he went through, do the Americans think Jesus is a supporter of the death penalty? And speaking of Jesus, the Jews of Jeruselum had to ask the Romans to kill him, because it was illegal for them to do so, but perfectly legal for the Roman authorities to, even though Jesus broke no laws.  If they had had a law like the one I proposed above, Jesus would not have been crucified, and Mel Gibson would have made one less shitty movie. Everyone would be happier. Just something to think about.

GTB

[Geiri (IP-tala skráð) 24.9.2010 kl. 11:44]

Majority of Americans voted for George W. Bush, enough said.

[Axel Þór Kolbeinsson, 24.9.2010 kl. 16:23]

The majority of Americans did not vote for W. Geiri

[Gregg Thomas Batson, 24.9.2010 kl. 19:13]

Axel,

I am slightly embarrassed that I did not catch that mistake myself.  You are correct that Bush did not receive a majority of the popular vote. Only 47,9% voted for Bush. Sorry Geiri. 

GTB

[ks (IP-tala skráð) 24.9.2010 kl. 19:48]

Either was here right to take a life...an eye for an eye...

[Unnar (IP-tala skráð) 24.9.2010 kl. 21:10]

I dont think under no circumstances should a government be able to legally kill their citizens for any kind of lawbreaking, be that murder or rape or whatever.

If you are pro-death penalty, you, personally, are responsible for the deaths of those innocents of their crimes.

 Its an undeniable fact that innocent people have been executed for crimes they did not do, and the people advocating the death penalty, in my opinion, are  the people responsible for an innocent life lost.. they are advocating murder.

 People asking others to put themselves in the shoes of the victims family like "what if they murdered your father? wouldn't you then advocate the death penalty?", well, thats far to simplistic to debate here in my comment, but its as easily answered with "what would you do if the government murdered your father on false charges?"

 Long story short, those advocating the death penalty, are advocating murder. 

[Gregg Thomas Batson, 24.9.2010 kl. 21:38]

Unnar,

That was an excellent point and puts a new perspective on the whole debate.

"What would you do if the government murdered your father on false charges?" 

 More to the point, what could you do?-since the action of the government is legal.

Thank-you very much for that pearl of wisdom.

GTB

[Krímer (IP-tala skráð) 24.9.2010 kl. 22:55]

Silungurinn sökkar, nei ég meina Laxinn

[Geiri (IP-tala skráð) 25.9.2010 kl. 22:55]

You are talking about the first elections, he was elected again 4 years later.

[Gregg Thomas Batson, 26.9.2010 kl. 00:22]

Geiri,

I almost forgot that the Americans kept that idiot around for so long. If you listen to the news in the US today, you would think the president before Obama was Clinton because everything seems to be either Obama's or Clinton's fault. Technically you are right, Bush received 50,7% of the popular vote, but only 60,7% of the voters actually showed up (though this is considered a lot in the US). That means only 30,8% of all registered voters actually voted for Bush. I may be being pernickety here, but I don't think it is fair to say a "majority of Americans" have ever voted for Bush. But on actual votes cast, I will concede that Bush won the election with a clear majority.

GTB