The American Bar Association recently completed a two-year study of Texas’ death penalty with a nonpartisan panel of experts. They concluded what we already knew, that the death penalty is a broken, expensive, and dangerous government program. Texas ranks third in the nation with a dozen people being sentenced to death and later freed after evidence was discovered that they were wrongly convicted. You can read our statement on the assessment here.
Then two weeks ago, the Death Penalty Information Center released a report that found only 2% of U.S. counties are responsible for the majority of death sentences in the country. Anyone who believes in basic American fairness, fiscal responsibility, and limited government has to be concerned when an expensive, inefficient system riddled with problems is utilized by so few and subsidized by everybody else.
On the road, on the airwaves
Stories like these are why growing numbers of conservatives are welcoming us with open arms at events and news outlets across the country.
A few weeks ago we were an exhibitor at the invite-only annual Liberty Political Action Conference (LPAC) in Chantilly, VA. Supporters surrounded our booth the entire time.
One attendee said, “The death penalty can be summed up in one word, oops, because capital punishment and the government are governed by Murphy’s Law – what can go wrong, will go wrong.” A supporter from the National Association for Gun Rights said, “I’ve been waiting a long, long time for a group like yours.”
David Lightman of the McClatchey News conglomeration briefly interviewed me at LPAC. His story went viral, hitting more than 30 publications.
Fresh off of our success at LPAC, we went to St. Louis to exhibit at their regional CPAC. Before the conference officially started, I was asked to be a guest on the nationally syndicated Rick Amato Television Show to talk about Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty. When the conference finally started it was clear that we had one of the busier booths at the convention. Supporters frequently asked us how to get involved, citing obvious inconsistencies between conservatism and today’s system of capital punishment.
While at CPAC St. Louis, I was interviewed by Duane Lester of the Missouri Torch, Craig Bergman of America’s Wake Up Call, and JD Miniear of the Conservative Commandos Radio Show. One story about CPAC St. Louis from the Free Radical Network even called CCATDP one of the “big guns” of the national conservative movement. Why, thank you!
I was recently a guest on the Scott Horton Radio Show to discuss the death penalty from a libertarian point of view and to describe why conservatives are now taking a stand against capital punishment. The Brenner Brief also interviewed me in a two-part series (pt. 1 pt. 2) covering what unique criticisms conservatives have with the death penalty and how they are getting involved. World Magazine recently reported on how the death penalty debate is changing nationally with Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty being their case in point.
State campaigns heating up
Fall will be over before you know it, and legislative season will begin in the states. Six states have ended the death penalty in the last six years, and a number of states are lining up to be number seven.
Many of those states are seeing growing numbers of conservatives join in the effort to repeal the death penalty. Do you want to be one of them? To get involved with Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty at the state level, contact us now, and we can work together to raise awareness of this broken system.