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Timothy McVeigh may win after all. He has already won half his crusade. He killed 168 innocent people to promote his hateful, bigoted, anti-government, right-wing views.

Now he may get a federal jury to kill him and make him a martyr, an inspiration to a new generation of McVeighs.

At stake in the Denver courtroom is more than the fate of one human being. It's more than the desperate need of the families of 169 victims for closure. It's even more than the need of a nation to finish grieving over the monstrous loss of life.

At stake is our democratic society's ability to confront a small but growing right-wing, violent, extremist movement. Killing McVeigh would make that job harder.

Think of John Gotti. "Dapper Dan," tabloids called the mob chief when he went to trial. What is he today? He's no longer a folk hero. He's considered a jerk, a spaccone in the business. He no longer wears $1,000 suits. He wears prison coveralls.

Why? Because the government didn't kill him. It locked him up instead.

Militia warriors are prepared to die with their boots on. They're not prepared for a lifetime of incarceration. Then they have to sit and think. That's punishment.

We want more than punishment. We want to do what is right for all of society, including protecting people's lives. We have to understand what led McVeigh to kill. We need to know more of his story.

If McVeigh lives, he'll probably write a book. Journalists will clamor to interview him. The story must be told in its entirety, beyond the limits of courtroom procedure. We want to know more about his thinking, more about his accomplices.

We want him trotted out every few years in front of the public, like Charles Manson, to see what has become of him and to be reminded of what he did, unadorned by the trappings of martyrdom.

Kill McVeigh and we'll see plaques and banners. We'll see new militias forming in his name. We'll see more killing.

Spare his life. Lock him up. He may understand what occurred and face the torture of living with 168 deaths.