{"id":39697,"date":"2012-05-10T11:05:10","date_gmt":"2012-05-10T17:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=39697"},"modified":"2012-05-10T11:06:21","modified_gmt":"2012-05-10T17:06:21","slug":"life-in-every-single-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2012\/05\/life-in-every-single-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Life, in every single case"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sarah<\/a>

Sarah Lenti<\/p><\/div>\n

If a person is ‘pro-life’ in the instance of an unborn child, then shouldn\u2019t that person be \u00adpro-life and anti-death penalty in the instance of a born and living human being?<\/h4>\n

2012 is here and it\u2019s pounding at your door, blasting over the radio airwaves, and likely interrupting your TV-watching time. Further, if your world is anything like mine, that big presidential race ahead is somehow managing to creep its way into every conversation, meeting, chit-chat, dinner or you-name-the-form-of social interaction.<\/p>\n

And, no \u2013 these are not straight President Obama vs. Governor Romney discussions, nor are they straight who-should-be-the-V.P.? debates.<\/p>\n

Case in point, just the other night, a party of four of my dearest friends met to catch up, grab an appetizer and an adult beverage. As we were chatting, 2012 rolled into the conversation. After we finished with Rubio vs. Christie vs. Bloomberg, we starting talking issues: the economy, Iran, how the Affordable Care Act would come down later in June.\u00a0 (Nerd alert, I know \u2013 we embrace it.) The ACA discussion then turned into a Supreme Court discussion, which turned into a Roe vs. Wade discussion.<\/p>\n

Now, I do not want to turn this particular blog into a Roe vs. Wade argument, and so I won\u2019t. I will take the liberty, however, to say this: It has forever baffled me that those who are so unabashedly and outspokenly \u201cpro-life\u201d when it comes to the Roe vs. Wade decision are oft the very same people who aren\u2019t<\/span> consistently pro-life <\/em>when it comes to other socially-charged issue like stem-cell research and the death penalty.\u00a0<\/em>(Note, here I am referring to friends, family, strangers who proclaim to be \u201cpro-life\u201d and, in fact, would not deny being single-issue voters in political elections.)<\/p>\n

Perhaps this is too simplistic, but in my mind, if a person is vehemently proclaiming to be \u201cpro-life,\u201d then shouldn\u2019t that person be pro-life<\/em> across the board?\u00a0 Meaning if a person is \u201cpro-life\u201d in the instance of an unborn child, shouldn\u2019t that person be \u00adpro-life <\/em>and anti-death penalty in the instance of a born and living human being? It\u2019s only logical. If a person is going to be\/argue \u201cpro-life,\u201d then please be just that – \u00adpro-life.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Getting the death penalty wrong<\/h3>\n

With respect to being pro-life — <\/em>and, while I could talk about the stem-cell issue —\u00a0I will leave that for another blog. Instead, let\u2019s take a look at the death penalty for just a moment. It\u2019s a fact that the repercussion of the death penalty is just that \u2013 death, and death by execution. So again, if a person is voting on \u201cpro-life\u201d issues, then being pro-life <\/em>would beg that you are anti-death penalty. Right?<\/p>\n

But, what about issues of justice<\/em>, you ask? \u00a0Good question. For example, when a person is convicted of murdering another innocent human being, can\u2019t a person still be pro-life and pro-death penalty because of just that very thing called justice?\u00a0 My response would be no, because taking a life is taking a life – and that\u2019s not pro-life.<\/em><\/p>\n

For the sake of being the devil\u2019s advocate, let\u2019s look at an October 2011 Gallup Poll<\/a>, which found that 61 percent of Americans are in favor of the death penalty in the instance of murder. Interestingly, 41 percent in that same poll said they believed the death penalty was applied unfairly<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. Excuse me, but where is the justice in an unfair execution? Am I missing something?<\/p>\n

Note that since the death penalty was restored in mid 1970s under Furman vs. Georgia<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>we know that “at least 39 executions have been carried out in the United States in the face of compelling evidence of innocence or serious doubt about guilt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Getting the death penalty wrong in even one instance is wrong, let alone 39 instances.<\/p>\n

Life should be about justice – in every case<\/h3>\n

Back to the original point of this blog:\u00a0 If a person is going to sing the banner of \u201clife, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness\u201d as unalienable rights guaranteed to citizens under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, then please understand that issues of life extend beyond Roe vs. Wade.<\/p>\n

This is an intellectual argument, not just an emotional argument.<\/p>\n

Martin Luther King, Jr. was beyond wise and eloquent when he remarked that, \u201c<\/em>Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Life<\/span> should be about justice \u2013 in every single case. That\u2019s my personal bottom line.<\/p>\n

For the record, I am not advocating one position or the other with respect to the many issues of life. I am, however, suggesting that voters should think beyond single issues when it comes to the polls, and, moreover, aim to\u00a0be more ideologically consistent, especially when it comes to the not-so trivial issues of life.<\/p>\n

Sarah Lenti is the blogger behind NMPolitics.net\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>The Savvy<\/em><\/a>. E-mail her at\u00a0<\/em>sarah@nmpolitics.net<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If a person is \u201cpro-life\u201d in the instance of an unborn child, then shouldn\u2019t that person be pro-life and anti-death penalty in the instance of a born and living human being?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,181],"tags":[241,291,116],"class_list":["post-39697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-the-savvy","tag-abortion","tag-death-penalty","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39697"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39697\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}