Left or Right or Jesus?

The Consistent Life Network posted a blog on June 6, 2023, by Dr. Jacqueline Abernathy, a public policy and social work expert and political activist. Her essay was about how people determine who in society deserves assistance, or even life itself. http://consistent-life.org/blog/index.php/2023/06/06/deserving-and-undeserving/

The article starts with a quote from Dorothy Day: “The Gospel takes away our right, forever, to discriminate between the deserving and undeserving poor.” Dr. Abernathy contends that the American political Left and Right have labeled “entire groups of human beings as ‘deserving of life’ and ‘underserving of life,’ in order to justify killing” criminals and those deemed too costly to maintain.

The Left and the Right

According to the Left, unborn children, including embryos in research labs, and the terminally ill are undeserving of life if they are inconvenient, too expensive to keep, or better used in experiments to improve the lives of those deemed more valuable.

According to the Right, people who have committed certain crimes deserve capital punishment. The Right is also willing to send immigrants back to almost certain death in their home countries because they entered our country illegally. Only the innocent and “approved” are deserving of life.

Abernathy makes the point then that “the duopoly is pro-violence: neither Democrats nor Republicans in their party platforms care about ALL [emphasis mine] human lives, just those lives they think have value.” This worldview, she continues, “that some lives are less sacred than others, creates second-class citizens in our midst. There can be no equality as long as some people don’t have the right to even exist.”

The Left and the Right, according to Abernathy, operate from two distinct criteria. On the Left, “ableism and ageism often determine which humans are ‘undeserving of life.’ That means the disabled or chronically ill, an unborn child unable to survive outside the womb, an elderly person requiring care, all are too demanding of other people’s time and money and so should be eliminated. Those who can stand on their own have value; those who cannot have diminished value. Therefore, abortion and euthanasia are justified.

On the Right, it is often the concept of innocence, narrowly defined, that determines who lives or dies. Innocent human life, like the pre-born child, deserves protection. Inmates on death row are not innocent, so they don’t deserve to live. Even suspecting someone of a crime can give a trigger-happy paranoid an excuse for shooting a stranger.

Hypocrites and Irony

Abernathy says: “Both major political parties condemn the other as hypocrites for supporting one form of violence while opposing the other. Neither catches the irony that both accusations are true.” Both parties ”claim the moral high ground,” but “both are morally defunct.” Their justifications for killing are “all arbitrary and self-serving.” In short: “Both parties kill. They just don’t agree on whom to kill.”

The terrible truth is that, as Abernathy points out: “Killing is easier than caring, and typically, less expensive. Violence is an easy way to rid ourselves of those who cost our time and money because they require care: healthcare, childcare, nursing home care,” and prison rehabilitation. “No matter who the victim is, it’s all about killing those who are more valuable to us dead than alive.”

This “who is worthy and who is not” way of thinking applies not only to killing off those who get in the way, but also, says Abernathy, “who deserves to eat when they can’t afford to feed themselves (and the taxpayer is footing the bill). It’s depraved that we should insist people be deemed deserving of help before we’re willing to assist with basic human needs.”

For example, “children and the elderly deserve help because they have a limited ability to help themselves,” but able-bodied adults deserve to go hungry if they don’t work “hard enough,” to earn a living wage. “If they are in need because of an addiction, this is also their fault,” and so they are unworthy of aid.

Love Equally

Mother Teresa didn’t “sort” humans according to some arbitrary standard of worthiness. She served all people in need because they are part of God’s family. The corporal works of mercy tell us to give food and drink, clothes, shelter, medical aid, comfort, and burial to those who cannot provide for themselves. No qualifiers or paragraphs and subparagraphs of rules. Just do it because God told us to take care of each other.

Dr. Abernathy advises us to “reject both the Left and the Right and stand consistently for non-violence.” She adheres to the Consistent Life Ethic, as does the Catholic Church, because that is what Jesus taught: Love one another as I have loved you. (John:15:12) No ifs, ands, or buts, no segregation, no second-class citizens. Just love.