I spend a decent amount of time on YouTube (as opposed to an indecent amount) but somehow I missed a real gem, which the article below helpfully linked me to:
How Much Jail Time?
I have to ask my dear dedicated readers the same question, no matter which side of the debate you're on. The question is one I had honestly never thought of, although I've seen my share of debates and asked a few questions myself. However, the article strikes a chord: the debate has raged for quite a while without anyone on either side pinning down the final punishments. The video's responses both horrify and amuse me; "pray for them" might actually be a punishment in someone's eyes but it's certainly not a legal one in a nation where we (supposedly) have separation of church and state... and the judge can't say "I've never thought about punishment before." What gives?
Tough question, especially since there is no "one size fits all" answer - not even close.
ReplyDeleteLife is not guaranteed to be long, fair, kind, easy, good (or bad), healthy or happy in any defined measure at all; yet the well read and broad minded people who under a long series of major and minor tyrannies, got together and outlined what nearly every intelligent person can to agree as being a pinnacle of enlightened thought, stating that "all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them: Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness". This is the foundation document on which the USA was built.
Until recently, most people accepted that "personal responsibility" was the norm, and that you take your lumps for the choices you make. Granted, there are times when there are "innocent victims": a drunk driver killing most of a family in another car, yet walking away from the accident himself is not "fair", and that some punishment has to be imposed (if just to keep the idiot from doing it again). The purpose of Law is as much to protect the innocent as punish the perpetrator, and could in theory at least be reduced to "does _____ act by "A" impinge or deny "B" any of the rights or privileges "A" is entitled to?", and follow that old maxim: "your right to swing your fist, ends at my nose"... and you can probably see where I'm going here.
It's only been within the past few decades of intensive effort to "remove the consequences" from what are usually stupid life choices, that abortion has been possible on the scale it has. (came across a statistic widget on a site, that stated since the Iraq war started, 5,xxx,xxx abortions have been performed in the US. Even if only half true, it's sobering, on many, many levels.)
The "problem" is not just the legality or immorality of abortion, a goodly portion of the problem (but not by any means the whole picture) is the shedding of personal responsibility, of thinking we can get what we want without consequences.