It would be my responsibility to bear...nobody else's.
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I would also feel horrible if I had to take a life. Yes, it would be your responsibility, but nevertheless, you have the power but would not give it to 40 million citizens in California collectively. That is what I don't get. You have the power but deny it to others, even after a murder is committed. At least we, as the state, are putting to death a murderer. You would feel badly, but you still put to death someone before he did physical harm. There is the paradox. It's okay for you to determine time, method, and circumstances, but not for the state.
"I would also feel horrible if I had to take a life. Yes, it would be your responsibility, but nevertheless, you have the power but would not give it to 40 million citizens in California collectively. That is what I don't get. You have the power but deny it to others, even after a murder is committed. At least we, as the state, are putting to death a murderer. You would feel badly, but you still put to death someone before he did physical harm. There is the paradox. It's okay for you to determine time, method, and circumstances, but not for the state."
You're missing one thing, here: immediacy. I do grant the state the right to kill someone. Law enforcement does it all the time...in immediate situations. Sometimes they're justified. Sometimes it's later determined that they're not. However, it is only in immediate situations where deadly force is allowed.
Same thing here. Once a murder has taken place and time has passed, the immediacy is gone. At that point, the situation changes dramatically. We have other recourse for punishment of acts that have taken place.
This is why cops are often given a walk when they act wrongly in an immediate situation. It IS possible for them to make a mistake and wrongly use deadly force, but we give them a pass many times, due to the immediacy.
That's the difference. To deliberately decide to take someone's life when no immediate situation requires it is where I draw my ethical line. Others may disagree, and that's fine. As I said, I'm not picketing any executions, despite my disagreement with them. If that's the law, then I will respect it. If given an opportunity to vote against the death penalty, I will.