Jim Dickens

Thoughts and Views on Government Sanctioned Killing



Posted: Thursday, July 19, 2007

by Jim Dickens
Action Creates Success

Almost all of the people that read this article agree with government sanctioned killing.  Or to put it another way, less than 10% of the American people believe that government sanctioned killing is wrong.

I am using the term "government sanctioned killing" to encompass any act where one human being is allowed to take the life of another human being without fear of reprisal and with no pretense of self-defense or war.  The two major categories are abortion and the death penalty.

Almost half of us seem downright bloodthirsty because about 47% believe that neither the death penalty nor abortion have any moral stigma.  On the more bifurcated or hypocritical side of morality, about one third of us believes in the death penalty but not in abortion and about one sixth of us believes in abortion but not the death penalty.  These polls are from respectable pollsters like Gallup and can be found easily on Google or some other search engine.

The half of you that believe both the death penalty and abortion is morally acceptable probably will not listen to any arguments to the contrary.  I do admire your consistency but not your stand.  However, I don't understand why you believe that the government is more adept at life and death decisions than it is at other more mundane activities.

For the ones in favor of the death penalty but not abortion, why?  Do you really believe that the person that commits a capital offense can do absolutely no good for the rest of his life?  Do you really believe that you are going to prevent someone else from committing a similar crime?  I think the answer to both questions is "no".  And what if that murderer could be the future parent of the person that discovers a cure for Alzheimer's, AIDS, or cancer?

For the ones in favor of abortion but not the death penalty, why?  Do you really think that someone who has committed a capital crime has more right to live than a baby who has committed no sin?  Do you really think that sucking the brains out of a viable human baby (known as late term abortion) is any less contemptible than stabbing or shooting a stranger or a spouse?  Again, I think the answer to both questions is "no".  And what if that aborted child could have grown up and established a world government with solid foundations for peace for the next few centuries.

Although I would like to think I am morally superior to those of you that agree with at least one of those policies of killing, I am much more uncertain than that.  I believe in God.  But I don't pretend to know his will in cases such as killing other humans coldly and without remorse.  I don't know if God thinks either abortion or the death penalty is morally right or even just permissible.  However, I do know that I don't want to find out that it angers him after I have caused one of those deaths.

In my opinion, there is something fundamentally wrong with letting any government have the power of life and death.  How many of us would get a little fearful if the government decided that one way to fix the Social Security problem is to kill anyone over the age of 75?  Absurd?  Government now has the power to eliminate criminals and inconvenient fetuses so why not 75 year old humans who are no longer working?  

I don't like the precedent set by these two cases of government sanctioned killing.  But I am in a small minority and our representative democracy doesn't listen to small minorities very well or very often.
Jim Dickens has been programming and accumulating expertise in software and hardware since 1979.  During that time, he has been as confused as anyone about some of the technical jargon.  Persistence and the desire to eat regularly have enabled him to learn enough to explain some of that geekspeak in www.laptopsforhumans.com.

In the late 1980s, Jim started studying self-help literature to branch out and to hone his business and personal success skills.  He has applied the translation skills that he uses for computers to that self-help literature in www.actioncreatessuccess.com.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Anonymous 4 years 281 days ago.
Mr. Dickens, You shed a very powerful light on a subject that is near and dear to most Americans. I would like to point out a few things to you. Our government gives us the right to choose (abortion or not). It us up to us and our morals to do the right thing. If a woman chooses to have an abortion why should the government stop her? After all, our forefathers dictated the constitution which provides rights and freedoms for each individual. As you stated that child could have been the next person to establish world peace. At the same time they could have been the next Jack the Ripper or leader of a major drug cartel. It is a two way street and we (Americans) need to look both ways. Saying the government sanctions killings is misleading and irresponsible. Our government is not perfect. But it is filled with people that are less than perfect. Finally, where does it state in the constitution that I should help pay for people on government assistance. The constitution dictates our freedom and establishes a government. Never did it say we have to pay for foreigners through government assistance.
» left by 4 years 281 days ago.
Interesting comment from an anonymous person that I disagree with on two issues. First, I was not picking on abortion rights, I included executions and abortions under the same umbrella of government sanctioned killings because the government does not seek to punish the person or persons responsible for killing the other human being. Second, I am wary of the government giving me or anyone else the right to choose to kill -- I may be on someone's list. Anonymous is absolutely correct that the unborn could be the new Albert Einstein or the new Adolf Hitler. Good discussion, though
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