It may also be viewed as a payoff to the ruling lite. It is still an open democratic society in which there is upward mobility. Yet two million people are in its prisons, and capital punishment is justified by appealing to the Old Testament idea of retribution. The United States is the only major democracy to apply this vindictive rule. Indeed, as governor of Texas, Bush approved of forty executions last year, and he refused to pardon anyone.
Religiosity pervades our culture.
Both Gore and Joseph Lieberman aped the professions of religious piety of their conservative counterparts during the campaign. In our view this is as it should be in a secular democracy. And Gore agreed with him. If allowed to be implemented with no court rulings to the contrary this could change the religious landscape of America and Balkanize us into ethnic-religious enclaves. This is all the more so if funding for private religious schools is made possible, as Bush wants.