There are serious pro-life arguments against the death penalty, but it is deeply unserious to pretend that they are identical to the arguments against abortion. The differences are so obvious & numerous, no adult should need them explained.
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Replying to @baseballcrank
It's also deeply unserious to pretend that those differences don't seriously undermine absolutist 1st principles by opening up the door to all sorts of caveats. At that point we're no longer defending life as an end unto itself & we're just debating who defines what exceptions.
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Replying to @jordanhenderson @baseballcrank
Exactly my point though: you're then no longer making a first principles argument, you're now treating life as a means to some other end & we're now debating what caveats & exceptions can justify it. But of course, lots of people have ideas about what caveats/exceptions matter.
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We argue first principles all the time without asserting that they are absolute. In politics, nothing is absolute. Killing requires a compelling reason. The distinction between killing a terrorist & killing an innocent, helpless child makes that calculus drastically different.
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