“Why do conservatives who act like they are pro life then make cuts to social safety nets if they care about life”
Policy decisions should be some of the hardest decisions humans have to make in life, because we are dealing with people’s lives
I’m not saying policy making should be devoid of human empathy or compassion, but basing policy strictly around compassion is not the best route to take as well
I know this makes me sound like a serial killer, so I’ll offer a basic (and sort of extreme) example: the lifeboat scenario. You have a lifeboat with a set capacity (analogy for resources), and it’s filling with people with many more still in the ocean. There will eventually come a point where too many people are on the boat and the whole thing sinks. So someone has to decide, and what’s really fucked up, ensure that too many people do not get in the boat. That’s the most fucked up decision to ever have to make, and it’s the most fucked up position to have to watch people die and not be able to help them
But that is sometimes a part of policy making, including with COVID. No covid policy is ever going to be around the goal of preventing all COVID deaths. Death is understood and accepted. The policy should ideally attempt to minimize death while also preventing the entire ship (economy) from going under
Note: I hope people don’t think this that I’m arguing saying cuts to social safety nets are always a good thing. They certainly make my job a lot harder! I’m just expressing why they can still come from people capable of feeling compassion and empathy
|