conservatives
The Left/Right Divide: A New Approach
by Rachel MacNair I’ve long had a problem in figuring out what the underlying principle is between distinguishing left-wing and right-wing. I was told during the Reagan years that right-wingers want less government. But so many who identified as right-wing, and were understood that way in the media, wanted more and stronger military, police, FBI,…
The Death Penalty and Abortion: Perspectives on Connections
Quotation collected by Rachel MacNair Helen Prejean Endorsing the book, Consistently Opposing Killing The societal wounds of racism, poverty, and a penchant for using violence to address problems are intimately connected to the death penalty, to war, to the killing of the old and demented, and to the killing of children, unborn and…
The Death Penalty and Abortion: The Conservative/Liberal Straitjacket
by Rachel MacNair A freelance writer recently interviewed me on this question: Why is it that U.S. states tend to divide out, with some having the death penalty but passing restrictions on abortion, while others fund abortion and don’t have the death penalty? You can see the list here of death penalty states and abortion-funding…
Is the Death Penalty Unethical?
by Hannah Cox Is the death penalty unethical? For many years, this was where the debate around capital punishment began (and often ended). While it’s an important question, especially for those concerned with human ethics or coming from a religious background, it is not necessarily the proper place to start the discussion. This is a…
Remembering Rep. Walter B. Jones, Jr.
by Patrick O’Neill It may be have been unprecedented on the U.S. political landscape — a Catholic U.S. Congressman who was invited to be the keynote speaker at both an anti-abortion rally and an anti-war rally — in the South. Yet, that’s what happened when Republican Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., an Eastern North Carolina…
Answering Objections to the Consistent Life Ethic from Mainstream Pro-Lifers
by John Whitehead Advocacy for the consistent life ethic (CLE) requires making the CLE more comprehensible and appealing to those with very different philosophies. Consistent Life Network Vice President Rachel MacNair offered valuable guidelines for discussions about the CLE in her blog post, “Tips on Dialogue.” Taking a cue from her post, I offer thoughts…
Making the Case for Peace to Conservatives
by John Whitehead Editor’s Note: This is the third in the series of blog posts based on presentations at our 30th Anniversary conference, held August 4-6, 2017. In the United States, political conservatives tend to support American wars and military interventions abroad and generally favor a hawkish foreign policy. People dedicated to peace and alternatives…
The History of Framing the Arguments
by Jim Kelly This is one part of Jim’s presentation at the Consistent Life Network 30th anniversary conference. The second part is Common Ground, and the third one will be published later. The origins of the modern pro-legal abortion movement do not lie in feminism. In her 1963 classic The Feminist Mystique…
On Being a Consistent Chimera
by Rob Arner I’ve always felt like something of a misfit, like I don’t fully belong. As a person living in 21st century North America, I find myself surrounded by an oppressively exclusive metaphor of the left-right political spectrum. It’s a moral and political environment with two competing “camps,” in which both claim to be fighting…
Why Conservatives Should Oppose the Death Penalty
by Destiny Herndon-de La Rosa Not a day goes by that I don’t log onto my Facebook, sign into my email, or stream through a thread of tweets declaring one thing loudly: The government is corrupt on almost all levels and something must be done to take away its power. This might not be everyone’s experience,…