The Justice Who Rides on Coattails of Europe
Anthony Kennedy, the Supreme Court justice who wrote the majority opinion
on striking down the death penalty for those under 18 years old, took his
lead from European precedent, not from the American historical and
constitutional context. He must think that the U.S. is so primitive and
Europe so avant garde. That is progressive ideology at work. That is the
mentality of the ACLU. They are ashamed of the American cultural tradition
that values human life and human responsibility. They cannot place
individual responsibility but blame the environment, parents, the
government, and institutions for the actions of a minor. A person who
commits murder is not to be made responsible for his actions because
something in his upbringing must not have been right. Adults are to blame
because they have not created a paradise on earth which all children have a
right to have. When minors kill, the state must turn the other cheek.
This is the statist mentality at work, the mentality that makes a god out
of the state, the belief that the state is the absolute arbiter of life,
and that the individual is merely a creature of the state. This would not
be so if God were the source of life and absolute value.
posted at 4:16 PM PermaLink
3 Comments:
Turn the other cheek. Hmmmmm. Words to live by. Your argument about the state does not make sense. You say that "the mentality that makes a god out the state, the belief that the state is the absolute arbiter of life..." Actually pro-death penalty supporters by definition believe that the state should be the arbiter of life in that they believe the state should kill. Actually, if God and individuals should be the arbiters of life instead, we should get the state out of the killing business. Let God strike evil doers down or let individuals take vengeance if you believe the state should be left out. Be honest in your arguments.
God is the final arbiter of life. He delegated to the state the dispensing of justice - a life for life. The state has no right to set aside that duty by not punishing murder. When the state takes life it is not murder. But the previous comment says all taking of life is murder. Not so. The primary purpose of the state is to dispense justice. If it does not dispense justice, it has become illegitimate. Those who want the separation of church and state want to apply "turn the other cheek" which is a personal ethical injunction, to the state. That is highly inappropriate. In wanting the abolish the death penalty, they want the state to behave like the church. Be consistent in your position.
I would like to hear that person who is against the death penalty and who said "the state should get out of the killing business" speak out against the Florida judge who has ordered that Terri Schiavo, an incapacitated woman who is not in a comma, not terminally ill, be killed by starvation. She is not even a criminal. Where are the anti death penalty activists now? Why are they so silent?
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