What are your views on torture, drug legalization, war, and anything else?

Question

What do you believe? I'm really interested to see what people think about any significant topic. Whether its right or wrong to torture, the death penalty, church and state, racism, gay marriage, abortion, free speech, data piracy, war, the right to bear arms, socialized medicine, suspension of habeas corpus, federal wire tapping, and anything at all; I want your opinions and your views, no matter how controversial. Support your beliefs with reasoned arguments if you choose to, but if you feel you don't need to support your beliefs, then that's fine as well. Just please tell me what you think.

Answer 1

Wow, you've got quite a list. I could (and have) written at length on most of these, but in the interest of time & space I'll single out the death penalty. You should do separate questions for each of these - I'm sure you'll get much better, in-depth answers.

I was pro-death penalty for a long time, but I have changed my stance over the years, for several reasons:

1. By far the most compelling is this: Sometimes the legal system gets it wrong. Look at all the criminals who are being released after years of imprisonment because they were exonerated by DNA evidence. Unfortunately, DNA evidence is not available in most cases. No matter how rare it is, the government should not risk executing one single innocent person.

Really, that should be reason enough for most people. If you need more, read on:

2. Because of the extra expense of prosecuting a DP case and the appeals process (which is necessary - see reason #1), it costs taxpayers MUCH more to execute prisoners than to imprison them for life.

3. The deterrent effect is questionable at best. Violent crime rates are actually higher in death penalty states. This may seem counterintuitive, and there are many theories about why this is (Ted Bundy saw it as a challenge, so he chose Florida – the most active execution state at the time – to carry out his final murder spree). Personally, I think it has to do with the hypocrisy of taking a stand against murder…by killing people. The government becomes the bad parent who says, ‘do as I say, not as I do.’

4. There’s also an argument to be made that death is too good for the worst of our criminals. Let them wake up and go to bed every day of their lives in a prison cell, and think about the freedom they DON’T have, until they rot of old age. When Ted Bundy was finally arrested in 1978, he told the police officer, “I wish you had killed me.”

5. The U.S. government is supposed to be secular, but for those who invoke Christian law in this debate, you can find arguments both for AND against the death penalty in the Bible. For example, Matthew 5:38-39 insists that violence shall not beget violence. James 4:12 says that God is the only one who can take a life in the name of justice. Leviticus 19:18 warns against vengeance (which, really, is what the death penalty amounts to). In John 8:7, Jesus himself says, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Answer 2

I'm supposing you're talking about all of these topics in regards to the US.....

torture - abu-ghraib was not torture. if it is considered torture to have a female play with your genitals, sign me up! torture is what saddam did within those same prison walls.

death penalty - those who have never sinned should cast the first stones. pretty hypocritical. in the past, i always supported the death penalty. at the same time, why not just let them starve to death? it was ok when it happened to a brain dead woman. why should we be "humane" with murderers?

church and state - they do not share the same goals and are rightfully separated. i agree with the old supreme court ruling that defined separation of church and state. keep in mind, this is coming from a "right wing nutjob"

racism - racism in the US is tame. go outside the borders to see true racism. however, criticizing anyone other than whites in the US is always seen as racist, no matter how accurate the criticism is.

gay marriage - marriage is (supposed to be) a religious thing, right? what happened to separation of church and state? marriage should not be decided at the federal level. besides, since it is (supposed to be) a religious thing, not one religion considers to gay dudes to be a legit marriage.

abortion - only in absolute extreme circumstances. rape, yes. high threat of serious injury or death to the mother, yes. incest, yes.
not being able to support a baby, NO. you were responsible enough to make that decision and you don't deserve a get out of jail free card. nobody else has that opportunity.

data piracy - its bound to happen in the information age. it may be a while before any solution can be available. until then, cover yo' @$$ for yourself. don't depend on others.

war - it made us the great nation we are.

right to bear arms - shall not be infringed.

socialized medicine - sorry, i can't afford it. i have a job.

suspension of habeas corpus - depends on the situation. i can only assume based on your other questions you are referring to gitmo. i will say that i believe the official line - the evidence needed to prosecute them is too sensitive to be brought to public (which would be needed for a trial) yet they are too dangerous to be released.
i'm not saying that is true for everyone held there. i hope everyone there is there for a reason. but i don't want to be around if the wrong one is let go....

federal wire tapping - who cares? if agent john doe knows that your aunt bea is coming to visit you on saturday, he probably doesn't really care.

Answer 3

I think I could make a test of one hundred short sentences, about half from the Constitution and about half invented. I think if I administered this test to a thousand randomly chosen people, less than half would correctly identify the false from the true for more than fifty percent of the sentences.

That's what I think.