The Editor, Sir:

Regarding Friday's editorial on the death penalty debate, I really had to pause for a minute. Did the editorial board of The Gleaner really just, unequivocally, with (few if any) contorted sentences to obscure its intent, name the problem for what it is - that religious fundamentalists, with the aid of greedy vote-hungry politicians, have been hijacking the discussion and misleading Jamaicans all along?

Thanks for the reminder that shortcut always draws blood, more dead bodies, and almost certain re-election. The long road to just public policies requires sweat, thought and a serious commitment to solving the real problems, rather than creating new ones.

"There are no magic answers, no miraculous methods to overcome the problems we face, just the familiar ones - honest search for understanding, education, organisation, action that raises the cost of state violence for its perpetrators or that lays the basis for institutional change - and the kind of commitment that will persist, despite the temptations of disillusionment, despite many failures and only limited successes, inspired by the hope of a brighter future." - Noam Chomsky.

I am, etc.,

'Long Bench'

longbench@gmail.com