The Foreign Service Journal, October 2003

F O C U S O C T O B E R 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 25 determining whether our con- tinuing administration of the death penalty can be reconciled with our constitutional human rights guarantees. To look out- side our borders would hardly be novel. After all, international opinion has informed the Court’s understandings of the social val- ues of the United States from the first days of its indepen- dence. Indeed, our nation’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence, specifically directed us all to pay “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind.” Shortly before he retired, the late Justice Harry Blackmun argued that the death penalty should be abol- ished for the simple reason that the practice of capital punishment “lessens us.” By so saying, he meant that capital punishment diminishes America’s reputation as a human rights leader and its ability to lead internationally on the basis of moral principle. For a coun- try that aspires to be a world leader on human rights, the death penalty has become our Achilles’ heel. As the U.S. Supreme Court has begun to acknowledge, in an increasingly globalized society, the opinions of other nations, and of the world community as a whole, are more relevant than ever. And now, more than ever, we believe, it is time for those who have served this country as diplomats to be heard speaking out about how the rest of the world sees the aberrant practice of governments putting their own citizens to death. ■ As the U.S. Supreme Court has begun to acknowledge, in an increasingly globalized society, the opinions of other nations, and the world community as a whole, are more relevant than ever. MCG FINANCIAL PLANNING Former State Department Employee Stationed Overseas Understands Unique Financial Situation of Foreign Service Services Include: Retirement Planning Tax Preparation and Strategies Analysis: Insurance and Investments Lump Sum Retirement Options MARY CORNELIA GINN 4630 Montgomery Avenue, Suite 220 Bethesda, Maryland 20814 Phone: (301) 951-9160 Fax: (703) 938-2278 E-mail: mcgfin@erols.com S ECURITIES OFFERED THROUGH N ATHAN & L EWIS S ECURITIES , I NC ., M EMBER NASD & SIPC. MCG F INANCIAL P LANNING AND N ATHAN & L EWIS ARE NOT AFFILIATED ENTITIES .