MORAL Vs LEGAL

Who knew that both the words moral and legal had well over five different definitions? But, for our purposes in both cases it's the first definition that concerns us. You see many people seem to think that the terms are interchangeable. But, as you will note they are different words that have distinct different meanings. Now in a 'fair' world they would be the same, but alas that is not the world I live in. And, if it's the world you live in please feel free to let me know what color pills you take to get there. Because as near as I can determine that world does NOT exist.

With no further ado the definitions:
mor·al – adjective - of, pertaining to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong; ethical: moral attitudes.

le·gal – adjective - permitted by law; lawful: Such acts are not legal.

You may think it doesn't matter that they have different definitions, but the reality is that man is a basically lazy animal. You see man rarely goes to the trouble of coining two words that have the exact same meaning. And, words have different meanings to convey different thoughts. With that in mind why does it really matter in your day to day life that legal and moral have different definitions you may ask? Glad you asked, or I just typed two thirds of a page for nothing. The reason interchanging these two words is a bad idea is that it allows us to do immoral things under the cloak of legalities. For instance, if I stuck a gun to your head and said, “Give me your wallet!” You would do so, but it would be both immoral and illegal. However if a cop sticks a gun to a your head and says , “Pay the government exorbitant taxes or fees!” it is legal, but it is rarely moral. Unfortunately that veil of legality makes it moral in most peoples view. I disagree.

We would all agree that being forced to pay for a service that we did not receive, indeed could not receive would be immoral wouldn't we? Well, I once had a city official tell me that each month I had to pay city fees on three trash pickups simply because my address was a triplex. The fact that there was only one apartment the city would allow to be legally occupied mattered not at all. So I was in a situation where the city was telling me to live in my home I had to pay for fees that I could not utilize. When I went to the head of the city water department who administered the trash fees he said that's the law. When I stated that if I forced my customers to pay for three appliance repairs, and forbid them to have but one of them I'd be jailed for extortion his response was literally to shrug his shoulders with absolutely no concern for the morality of the situation at all. He stated that his concern wasn't with right or wrong, but legal or illegal.

Now I'd known the difference before, but it had never hit me so much in the face until then. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised that our public servants could care less about the morality of their actions because they are cloaked behind the legalities of the situation, but it never occurred to me that they would simply not care. Recently I read “Lies the Government Told You: Myth Power, and Deception in American History.” By Judge Andrew P. Napolitano. Now I have always been a staunch proponent of capital punishment, and still am in theory. There are some crimes so heinous that the only correct punishment is to kill you. Sorry, murder someone, and I will gladly kill you back. Not a problem. Sexually abuse a child, and I'll kill you slowly and painfully. I have seen the adult aftermath of that sexual abuse, and there is simply no punishment harsh enough, but I'll do my best to find one for you.

However, in his book Napolitano cites the case of Leonel Torres Herrerra who was convicted of killing a couple of cops. After his conviction he obtained proof in the form of several affidavits who attested that his brother had done the killing. The SCOTUS held that the 8th amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment did not apply to killing a probably innocent man, and allowed the execution to go forward instead of stopping it and requiring a legal review of the evidence that probably would have freed Mr. Herrera. You see as it turns out his brother had borrowed his car and done the killings. The car was the main link to between Herrera and the crimes. Now don't get me wrong I have no idea as to the validity of the affidavits, but they should have been looked at by the legal system. Don't get me wrong, mistakes happen, but we're not talking about a mistake here folks we're talking about a murder committed on our behalf – let me rephrase that – ON OUR BEHALF – simply to convenience the legal community. You see in the majority SCOTUS opinion the main reason given was, “[f]ew rulings would be more disruptive of our federal system than to provide for federal habeas review of freestanding claims of actual innocence.” Think about that, it's legal, and it's to much trouble to do the moral thing so, “Kill him.” Is that really a good thing?

To make matters worse then Governor George W. Bush (whom I like less and less as history reveals him to me) disallowed clemency and an innocent man was executed for murders he did not commit. That this happened in my home state of Texas deeply saddens and shames me. And, with that application I simply cannot support the capital punishment system we have in place any further. You see while I believe that the killing of a person is perfectly moral in the situation of justifiable punishment I simply cannot and will not believe that the killing of an innocent person is ever moral. Apparently it is legal, but it is not moral.

This is why we need be ever mindful of the fact that something that is legal is not necessarily moral, and when we run across those situations we need to decide for ourselves whether to do the moral thing or the legal thing. Sometimes you just gotta fight city hall. There is an old saying, “For evil to flourish all that is required is that good men do nothing.” I can't recall who said it, but keep it in mind the next time some petty bureaucrat does something to you that is immoral - whether it is legal or not, - and fight it as hard as you can.