Newspaper Ecology

6-29-08           

In order to save space (column inches) in the editorial section, all newspapers should immediately cease publishing conservatives’ explanations of their positions on political issues. Instead, simply list their concerns without elaboration. How could that be fair? Conservatives’ positions on important issues need no longer be written down because they are unanimous, invariable, and widely known by all newspaper readers. Guns? Nothing better. Abortion? Evil personified. Change of any kind? Mankind’s curse. Separation of church and state? Obviously the founding fathers experienced a senior moment. Therapeutic stem cell research? God is opposed. Capital punishment? The Old Testament approves so what else do you need to know. Wars? If you don’t kill bad guys, the world will never understand how peace loving we are. The economy? The free market solves all problems, except maybe $4 per gallon gasoline and housing crises and environmental devastation. I could go on, but you probably see my point by now.

A recent letter – running to 15.5 column inches - from a conservative argued that America’s enemies do not deserve Constitutional protection. This argument might hold a little water if we had used our pea-sized brains to pinpoint who those enemies are. Of the 13,000 prisoners randomly thrown into Abu Ghraib at its peak, 10% are believed to have harmed America’s interests in some way. That means 90% were incarcerated out of ignorance or laziness, or simply because our troops were too rushed to check them out. Of that 90% who meant us no harm, a number are now committed jihadists as a result of their unlawful and abusive detention.

If the 775 Guantanamo detainees are the offspring of a late-night union between Beelzebub and the bogeyman as our government would have us believe, why have 420 (54%) been released without charge? Given this proven proclivity to lock up the guiltless, why is our government apoplectic about the Supreme Court’s verdict requiring adherence to the Constitutional requirement for habeas corpus? Is there a possibility that the evidence doesn’t support our President’s oft-repeated assertion that these are the worst of the worst? But even if they are, only our reverence for the rule of law protects us from the savagery with which governments of previous centuries (and some still) treated their citizens and enemies as well. Perhaps we should, out of self-interest, honor and trust the Constitution that made this debate possible.

Conservatives are certainly entitled to their own opinions, but since we already know in detail what those opinions are, why use valuable space to print the same thing again and again? Lest I be accused of unbalanced views, this opinion applies equally to left-wing liberal writings exhibiting little or no thought. Opinions deserve a hearing only if there is an obvious application of at least one ounce of brain power to their formation.