The Logic of Life

For decades now, Americans have been well trained on either side of the Roe v. Wade debate. You are either pro-choice or pro-life, with very little grey in between. Another social issue, though not as casually popular, is the death penalty. Once again, you are either for or against the death penalty, with a very little grey area. Both sides can pose very convincing arguments, causing I am sure, regular people to flip-flop back and forth on these issues. Traditionally, liberals believe that fetuses aren’t yet real people, thus abortion not constituting murder, and that the government should refrain from telling women what to do with their bodies. With regards to capital punishment, it’s barbaric, it doesn’t work and innocent people are sometimes killed are some of a liberals core arguments. On the right, abortion is immoral. “Protect the sanctity of life” is uttered from one conservative to the next as a badge of "wholier than thou" honor. "If there's any doubt, stand by the side of life". Yet, when it comes to capital punishment, the idea of “Life” gets confounded. Here is what Alan Keyes has to say:

“There are certain circumstances in which the death penalty is in fact essential to our respect for life. If we do not, in our law, send the message to everyone that by calculatedly, coldly taking a human life — in a way that, for instance, assaults the structures of law in a society, or shows a cold-blooded and studied disregard for the value of that life — if we are not willing to implement the death penalty in those circumstances, then we are actually sending a message of contempt for human life”

What!

Alan Keyes will not be the first, second or tenth black president, but his conservative position on social issues is representative of conservative talk and radio show hosts and most of the major republican figures in this country. Can he or any individual logically explain how killing someone, even a convicted killer, sends a message to our citizenry and the world that we respect the sanctity of life and/or by not killing someone send a message of contempt for human life? There is a deep contradiction that exists when conservatives, the Republican Party or anyone for that matter legally opposes abortion in the name of preserving the sanctity of life and simultaneously supports the death penalty in the name of preserving the sanctity of life. To the logical-minded citizen, this should be one of the great inconsistencies in politics today.