Statistically Sane

The Christian state of Florida has executed one John Errol Ferguson who, besides labouring under the racial handicap which enthuses so many American judges towards the death penalty, was also a paranoid schizophrenic with a history of hallucinations dating back to 1965. The US Constitution bars cruel and unusual punishment; and as far into the Bush régime as 2007 the supreme court ruled that executees must have a rational understanding of their approaching chastisement. Ferguson believed he was an immortal divine prince with the power of controlling the sun; so the Florida supreme court decided he was sane on the grounds that his belief in his personal immortality was shared by millions of American Christians, some of whose mental incapacity is apparently still in doubt. Still, Florida's decision that the Constitution is too quaint and outdated to bother with any more is certainly in keeping with the Nobel laureate's idea of government by the people, for the people; and the implication that almost all Americans are ripe for the same treatment as a pathologically deluded multiple murderer has obvious advantages for the enthusiast of drone justice.