Conservative Realist
I am a conservative. But I am also a realist.
I wear the appellation of conservative with pride. But the fact that I am also a realist means that I don’t feel the need to think or even agree with all other conservatives all the time. On a general basis I can understand the thought process of conservative thinkers without mandatorily adopting their particular point of view and making it my own.
I believe that abortion is the single worst plague infecting the very soul of America. Once a people are willing to accept the killing of their unborn there is very little room remaining to sink lower. It is a moral tragedy of epic proportions. Every great society throughout history that was brought to destruction failed on a moral level long before it failed politically or militarily. It was indeed their moral failings that led to their eventual downfall in every other area.
I have heard the pro-abortion arguments about the cases of rape and incest and some of them are compelling. As a man I cannot possibly pretend to know or understand the level of violation that occurs during such an act of violence. And to exacerbate that horror with a pregnancy is beyond my ability to conceive. But I do know that regardless of the circumstance under which a child is conceived, it’s not the child’s fault. Yet he or she is the one that pays the ultimate price. I have profound sympathy for the victims of these crimes and would support the creation of a non-profit organization that dealt solely with making adoptions of babies conceived through violence. Special care could be given to the expectant mothers and special care could be given in placing the children into loving homes with the adoptive parents aware of the circumstances involved in the conception. There may in fact need to be some additional psychiatric treatment provided these children as they develop. I’m not a doctor but I do believe aggressive behavior can be genetically passed down. Perhaps a dedicated effort directed at these children could break this chain. I would rejoice at seeing my tax dollars go to this effort rather than to abortion clinics and would not hesitate to make personal donations.
Perhaps because I view life as a gift from God, or perhaps because I have very little faith in the justice system, I am also profoundly opposed to the death penalty. I know most conservatives are rolling their eyes and looking to burn my conservative card so I can no longer carry it. But as a realist I am simply not that sure that the court system is infallible. I am however sure that death has no mulligan.
It’s not that I don’t believe that there are people who don’t deserve to be put to death. I truly believe that there are. It’s just that I don’t believe our court system, which has been proven corruptible time and time again, is competent to make that decision.
We claim we have the right to be tried by a jury of our peers. But the reality is that rarely do any of the jurors have even the slightest clue as to the rules by which the legal system is actually played. It used to be much simpler, but nowadays the legal wrangling and maneuvering have taken what should be uncomplicated and made it more complex than Chinese algebra. If you don’t know and understand the rules you simply cannot make a life or death decision. It is also plain that those who do know the rules are not the least bit interested in justice. The defense attorney is only looking for an acquittal or to plea to a reduced sentence, the prosecutor is only looking for a conviction and the judge is mainly concerned that the constitutional rules of the process are followed so the case cannot be overturned on a technical appeal.
But more than anything else I am a realist when it comes to the cost. It costs twice as much to sentence a man to die, carry through with the mandatory appeal process and finally execute him as it does to sentence him to life without parole and let him languish for the rest of his days in prison. No more hearings, no rehabilitation. Just one prison day leading into the next. I can honestly think of no greater punishment than to have no freedom, no hope and no future.
It may seem like I have compassion for the victims of violence that end in pregnancy and none to the victims of violence that end in murder. I just do not believe we as a public are any safer having killed John Wayne Gacy than we were before he died. I understand the families want and deserve closure but I truly believe they can find it somewhere other than a death chamber.
Does having these views make me less of a conservative? I don’t think so. You may disagree.
