Monday, November 12, 2012

Conservatives and Christians: The Mixed Argument

"The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law." (1 Corinthians 15: 56)

More laws equals more criminals, not merely because there are more laws to break, but more specifically because laws have this terrible tendency of bringing out the worst in people.

The drug laws have created a culture of thugs and gangs and black markets, leading to rampant violence in our inner cities and failed states in Latin America.

The War on Drugs is a war on freedom. This onslaught of state power is not protecting us, but instead has created a culture of violence and fear, with Prohibition serving as the unheeded lesson that state power simply cannot legislate morality.

Conservatives and Christians support individual liberty and free markets. When the discussion turns to permitting individuals to engage in poor and even fatal choices with their own bodies, then they retreat from the principles of individual liberty and introduce the leaven of the law.

The Law of Moses was never intended to justify man, but rather show him to be lost and in need of a savior. Our national and state statutes have no right or reason to infiltrate our private space and protect us from poor consequences. Civil statutes have no business telling people how to live, but rather outline the consequences for behaviors which do not promote the natural rights or protect the public square of our communities.

Many Christians feel that they will be inviting the wrath of God upon them if they tolerate limited exceptions  for abortion. Life is tragic, and there are times when a woman gets victimized, who must have the option to receive emergency contraception.

The choice of two individuals to engage in consensual behaviors is up to them. Just because we do not criminalize something does not mean that we are excusing it or endorsing the behavior. If two men or two women insist on living together and call it a "marriage", that's their choice. My greatest interest is to preserve the freedom of religion and conscience for everyone, including our religious communities who do not recognize or condone such conduct.

The most flagrant example our failed approach to criminalize and moralize is the Drug War. This has not protected our kids. Drug enforcement has created more problems than it has solved. Aside from cottage industries and law enforcement corruption, the War on Drugs has been a big failure, unfairly hurting minorities, putting more people in prison who do not need to be there.

This is crazy. Our leaders, our legislators are supposed to defend the Constitution, a charter which is about limiting government and protecting individual liberty from the encroachment of state power, or the interests of the masses, the elites, and dictatorial interests.

Conservatives and Christians have too much insistence on law to keep people in line. Aside from civil codes to keep the public square free from trouble and protect the rights of the individual, more laws create more problems. Enough with the mixed message, enough with larding down grace with law. Fewer laws, simple enforcement, and trust that the consequences of poor choices will teach individuals more than state sanctions.

No comments:

Post a Comment