It’s never over. Many have waited to succeed him. Some of them, if they had the chance, will not hesitate give you far more difficult choices than their predecessor ever dared to give, and it is then that you and many others will think fondly of him and curse the one that killed him.
But, what if that person was a time-traveller, and was actually tying future mass-murders, serial killers, and dictators to the tracks before they ever got a chance to start their crimes?
The trolley problem is about innocent people. When one of those people is the reason the others are in danger because they are actively trying to kill them, the problem kind of goes away. Almost nobody says you should just let them continue murdering.
If you can tie someone to tracks then you have complete control over them. That’s not defensive violence against the murderers, it’s an elaborate execution. It’s not about whether their souls are clean or whatever, it’s about whether there’s an immediate need to kill them.
My position is that the death penalty is never justifiable. The point is that this person presents a danger and for whatever reason you can’t stop them with a less permanent method.
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