So went the impotent cries of legislators today as the Supreme Court said that the death penalty for child rape was unconstitutional. Wow, were some of those guys livid. The CNN Headline read “Lawmakers vow to execute child rapists.” This seemed a little weird to me. In fact, while I hate child rapists as much as the next guy, I’ve never really been obsessed with killing them. Should we be worried that our lawmakers have this dangerous vigilante obsession?

The short answer: no. Our lawmakers are no thirstier for death than we are, as I realized when I thought for a moment. They are thirstier for something that is much more to their benefit. I’m talking, of course, about votes. Everyone wants to be popular. Sometimes, an easy way to make yourself popular is to play the role of a defender of justice and children. How does one cultivate this role? Killing people nobody likes. So when Alabama Attorney General Troy King (or “Priam” as his friends call him) says the Supreme Court is “creating a situation where the country is a less safe place to grow up,” he doesn’t mean that the jails he oversees are such disasters of security that every child rapist we don’t throw against the wall immediately will escape and go back to their inhuman activities. He is simply angry at the Supreme Court for taking away part of what makes him a “good guy” in the eyes of the public.

Why is America one of the last developed countries to keep the death penalty? Because it is politically expedient to do so. Any politician who opposed the death penalty would have to say that child rapists, child murderers, serial killers, all deserve to live. But how can we have any principles while our own government takes life? Are we using the victims to justify our own base need to see people who have done heinous acts die? In many states, the death penalty for child molestation is part of “Jessica’s Law,” named after a 9-year-old Florida girl who was raped and buried alive. Her story is a horrible one, and the tragic end is that the name of this once innocent, harmless girl is being used to kill people. We have to look past our rage at these people and think about what this is doing to our humanity as a nation and as individuals. If we consider the difference between life in prison without parole and a death sentence, which one can we be prouder of? What if, as a nation, we could say “The United States of America does not kill.” That would be a day that all patriots could take pride in.