Life,

Society,
Law, and
Language
© 2011 A. J. MacDonald, Jr.

We (people) tend to be very

pragmatic when it comes to
law in our societies. We
tend toward an overwhelming
majority of the group being
in complete agreement on
many, if not most, basic
points of law. Sort of a
“lowest common denominator”
approach to legal and social
theory.

Regarding life issues, I am

consistently prolife,
because I believe that a more just society would outlaw: capital
punishment, abortion, war, and euthanasia.

I was involved in a discussion, not long ago, during which I found

myself having to define the most basic of words to the person with
whom I was having this discussion; words such as: life, death, law,
justice, etc. The discussion involved abortion on demand, which means
abortion for any reason whatsoever. I was unsure, at first, whether I
should be taking this person seriously, because the definitions of
such basic words are, well, pretty basic. But, apparently, when it
comes to the issue of abortion, even the simplest words are distorted
to represent and symbolize something that they were never intended to
represent or symbolize, and that’s a real problem, because societies
depend upon language to write their laws and language is simply a
system of signs or symbols.

I’ve written a very simple law, which should be easy enough for anyone
to understand, that is designed to protect all human beings within our
society from being killed, intentionally and unjustly, by other human
beings within our society (with the sole exception being made for
self-defense and the defense of innocents). And because people do like
to quibble about the meanings of words, especially when it comes to
abortion, I’ve also included the proper definition of each word I’ve
used, as well as the word’s part of speech.

If, after reading this law, you still doesn’t understand what I’m
saying, or if you don’t agree with what I’m advocating, or if it
happens to be your desire that abortion on demand would continue to be
legal throughout the US for the foreseeable future, then please write
me and explain to me why you believe this and tell me what sorts of
arguments you are using to defend your prochoice position, because
I’ve yet to hear a sound argument that proves why abortion is NOT a
moral evil and I doubt that you or anyone can make such an argument.

Law:

“The intentional destruction of a human being of any age is not

permitted by law. Deadly force is permitted only when exercised
directly in defense of innocent human life.”

This law is as simple as I could possibly write it. As I see it, the
law would prohibit the following: murder, all forms of homicide or
manslaughter committed with malicious intent, capital punishment,
abortion, war, and euthanasia (when the natural, biological death
process has yet to begin).

The law would permit: deadly force when used in self-defense, defense
of others (i.e., innocents), war (in defense of direct attack) and the
prescription of pain relief medications (as the individual, family,
and physician sees fit) to dying people once the (natural, biological)
death process has begun.

Words used: 24 (distinctly different) words used; 28 total words (3

words are used twice: “human”, “is”, “permitted”; and one word is used
3 times: “of”).

“the”: definite article; used, especially before a noun, with a

specifying or particularizing effect; used to refer to specific or
particular nouns.

“intentional”: adjective; done with intent or on purpose;; modifies

nouns (modify meaning “to change in some way”).
“destruction”: noun; the act of destroying or state of being
destroyed.

“of”(3x): preposition; used to indicate distance or direction from,

etc.

“a”: indefinite article; any; a single.

“human”: noun; being human, a member of the human family; consisting

of members of the family Hominidae.

“being”: noun; existing; a particular, existing member of the human

family.

“of”(3x): preposition; used to indicate distance or direction from,

etc.

“any”: adjective; one, a, an, or some; one or more without

specification or identification.

“age”: noun; length of time during which a thing (e.g., human being)
has existed.

“is”(2x): verb; to exist, happen, occur; 3rd person singular present

indicative of be.

“not”: adverb; negation, denial, refusal.

“permitted”(2x): verb; to allow to do something.

“by” preposition; through the agency or authority of.

“law”: noun; principle and regulations established in a community by

some authority and applicable to its people, whether in
their form of legislation or of custom and policies recognized
and enforced by judicial decision.

“deadly”: adjective; causing or tending to cause death; fatal; lethal;

aiming to kill or destroy.

“force”: noun; power to influence, affect, or control (e.g., the force

of law).

“is”(2x): verb; to exist, happen, occur; 3rd person singular present

indicative of be.

“permitted”(2x): verb; to allow to do something.

“only”: adverb; alone, solely.

“when”: adverb; at what time, under what circumstances.

“exercised”: noun; a putting into use, action, or effect.

“directly”: adverb; at once; without delay; immediately.

“in”: preposition; used to indicate limitation or qualification, as of

a situation, relation, manner, action, etc.

“defense”: noun; resistance against attack; protection.

“of”(3x): preposition; used to indicate distance or direction from,

etc.

“innocent”: adjective; free of moral wrong.

“human”(2x): noun; being human, a member of the human family;

consisting of members of the family Hominidae.

“life”: noun; the animate existence or period of animate existence of

an individual or individuals (= lives).