What Kind of Complex? -

What Kind of Complex? - People talk about "Minnesota Nice" - the sort of strained civility, descended from Scandinavian roots, that characterizes social interaction in the Upper Midwest.

To that classic term, I need to add "Minnesota Smug"; the belief that somehow the "Minnesota Nice" are, for some reason, better than the rest of their neighbors. It usually implies supporting the DFL, of course.

To define "Minnesota Smug", you merely need to read Doug Grow in the Strib. Read his archives - but also read yesterday's unctuous exercise in MinSmug; he was writing about Governor Pawlenty's move to reinstate the death penalty in Minnesota:

This must be how lynch mobs worked. A strong leader, reacting to anger, would work up the crowd, then, en masse, there would be a rush to the nearest tree.

No, Doug; the governor has called for an orderly, legal process to enact a change in law. He has not called for a mob to string up Alfonso Rodrigues.

I know that's a subtle point.

On Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, reacting to anger from a case that hasn't come close to being resolved, was calling for the rope. He said he would push for Minnesota to become a capital punishment state.

"As a Minnesotan, as a governor, as a dad of two young daughters, I'm fed up with these stories where we have children abducted, women abducted, with a not very good system for resolving the issue," Pawlenty said.

Now, I'm deeply ambivalent about capital punishment. I favor it for every reason but one; the possibility of executing the wrong person. Everything about the death penalty makes sense except that - but the possibility of kiling the innocent is enough to prompt me to reject it. And it's in emotional cases like this one that the death penalty is most likely to be imposed in error.

But it's not the poor sex offender that Grow is worried about. No. It's those dang Republicans and their supporters:

Even though Minnesota is far different from the progressive place we used to know, this was chilling.

What isn't clear is whether Pawlenty is being a manipulative pol, playing on the emotions of state residents, or whether his belief in capital punishment comes from his heart. Either way, he was trying to create public policy with a jerk of the knee.

The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to to the Constitution, the New Deal, and the Gun Control Act of 1968 were all "knee jerk reactions that played on the emotions of the voter during or after traumatic events. Three of the five were good things, one was probably ineffective, and the other was just plain wrong; I suspect Doug Grow wouldn't have written a snarky column about any of those "knee jerks."

Grow continues:

Who isn't angry when tragedy happens? (It should be noted that there are tragedies daily in Minnesota, though most get far less political or media attention than the apparent kidnapping of University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin.) Who doesn't feel empathy?

But this would seem to be the time for a leader to attempt to comfort the family, support law enforcement and to say to the rest of us, "Take a deep breath."

Grow needs to take a deep breath.

Capital punishment is not about comforting the family or supporting law enforcement, or even dealing with "the rest of us".

It's about killing a depraved person who has destroyed a life, and the lives of everyone they knew.

It's about revenge.

And "minnesota nice" and "minnesota smug" both tell us that revenge isn't something "nice" people think about. And like Concealed Carry reform earlier this year (which brough Minnesota Smug out like flies to dookie), they tell us that it's a form of moral defect to protect yourself from those who'd destroy you or your family!

The sonorous examples of the sainted, forgiving exceptions to the rule are trotted out:

Don Streufert understands a father's anger. His daughter, Carin Streufert, was 18 when she was kidnapped, raped and murdered 12 years ago in northern Minnesota by two men, who are now serving long prison terms.

"I'm in the governor's corner when he calls for more safety for our daughters," said Streufert from his home in Duluth. "It's appropriate to be angry. . . . But I don't see anything positive that would come from capital punishment."

Streufert and his wife, Mary, had been scheduled to speak against capital punishment at an Amnesty International event next Wednesday in Duluth. Now, after the governor's stunning announcement, there will be more urgency in their words.

Christ tells us to forgive. The Streuferts seem to have done this. For their purposes, that's fine.

The Streuferts understand they're unusual. They've gone so far as to meet their daughter's killers. And they understand that families of victims all find different ways to try to cope with horror.

But they believe society must act on a different standard from individuals.

"The terror people feel will not be answered with capital punishment," Streufert said.

I can accept that (remember - I oppose capital punishment). But it's not about answering terror.

It's about removing a predator, rapist and murderer from society.

For different reasons, many others were saying the same thing.

John Bessler, a Minneapolis attorney who has written three books on capital punishment including, "History of the Death Penalty in Minnesota," said there's no evidence that the death penalty makes a state safer.

See my previous paragraph.

Grow ushers Minnesota Smug back into the conversation:

Should Minnesota become even more like Texas than it already has in the past few years by becoming a death penalty state? Texas is the nation's runaway execution leader. It has one of the highest murder rates in the country. Minnesota has one of the lowest.

When Doug Grow invokes Texas, you know that he has no interest in the issue at hand. Capital Punishment is just the rhetorical taxi that takes him to the address he really wants; his hatred of the unwashed hoi polloi that have so soundly rejected the utopia he and his fellow travellers thought was so within reach.

Of course, as Doug Grow is a mouthpiece for the DFL, there has to be the obligatory campaign plug:

Sen. Jane Ranum, DFL-Minneapolis, was disgusted by the governor's words. Ranum, chairwoman of the Senate public safety committee, supports tough prison sentences but is a foe of capital punishment.

But what caused her to bristle was Pawlenty, standing before Minnesota as a champion of public safety. Ranum said Pawlenty's budget slashed all sorts of programs that dealt directly with public safety.

"Don't just listen to what he says," Ranum said. "Watch what he does."

Indeed.

He's "Cut programs". What programs? We don't know - but "Jane Ranum says...", and that's enough for Doug Grow.

This must be the rub for the likes of Grow and Ranum; Pawlenty has cut programs - but actually done things to make the life of the criminal more dangerous. Concealed Carry reform will reduce crime by making violent criminals just a little bit more afraid to ply their trades. Capital Punishment will make some criminals more afraid, to be sure - the convicted and condemned ones.

If you think it sounds like I've been slowly talking myself into supporting capital punishment over the course of this article - you may be right.

Posted by Mitch at December 4, 2003 07:05 AM