Reply #105: What a coincidence.

[rrneck]

I am right now waiting for a tow truck because my pickup has quit on me. I cannot afford to have the truck repaired much less replace it. Until I can fix it myself I will have zero income and a half dozen disappointed customers. My schedule for the next month just went in the toilet.

You present a difficult scenario. While I disagree that deadly force can be used against theft under any circumstances since to do so would be punitive in the extreme. Theft of property indispensable to survival would present powerful mitigating circumstances in the use of deadly force.

Most of the bankruptcies in this country are the result of medical expenses. How much of the distinction can we make between the destruction of a life because of an assault and the destruction of a life because of the loss of a means to make a living?

James Shipler wrote an interesting book on the subject.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0375708219/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1314820602&sr=8-1

The Working Poor examines the "forgotten America" where "millions live in the shadow of prosperity, in the twilight between poverty and well-being." These are citizens for whom the American Dream is out of reach despite their willingness to work hard. Struggling to simply survive, they live so close to the edge of poverty that a minor obstacle, such as a car breakdown or a temporary illness, can lead to a downward financial spiral that can prove impossible to reverse. David Shipler interviewed many such working people for this book and his profiles offer an intimate look at what it is like to be trapped in a cycle of dead-end jobs without benefits or opportunities for advancement. He shows how some negotiate a broken welfare system that is designed to help yet often does not, while others proudly refuse any sort of government assistance, even to their detriment. Still others have no idea that help is available at all. others proudly refuse any sort of government assistance, even to their detriment."

People who consider themselves liberals would do well to consider the stakes that people have to face every day before they issue their moral judgements. And if the environment and our economy continue the downward slide many of us predict they may get first hand experience with the reality that the people they are supposed to care so much about.

But for my part, even considering the kind of day I've had I couldn't shoot somebody running away with my stuff.