MORE PROOF INSTAPUNDIT GLENN REYNOLDS IS A CONFUSED LIBERAL, A PSEUDO-MODERATE AND A HYPOCRITE

GLENN:

It's a bad idea to keep so many people in prison, and it's a worse idea to do so and then have them exposed to radical "clerics."

THIS IS A TYPICAL REYNOLDS MANEUVER: TRYING TO TAKE BOTH SIDES OF AN ISSUE: ON THE ONE HAND - LIBERAL, ON THE OTHER HAND - CONSERVATIVE:

• HE'S AGAINST THE TEACHING OF JIHAD IN PRISONS; (A GOOD CONSERVATIVE POSITION), BUT...

• HE'S ALSO BASICALLY AGAINST PRISON TERMS FOR MOST CRIMINALS; (A BAD LIBERAL POSITION).

THIS IS LIKE HIS 2ND AMENDMENT/DEATH PENALTY POSITIONS:

• HE THINKS IT'S OKAY IF PRIVATE CITIZENS USE DEADLY FORCE TO PREVENT A POTENTIALLY DEADLY FELONY (A GOOD CONSERVATIVE POSITION -- AND, HE IS EVEN OPPOSED GUN-FREE ZONES), BUT...

• HE OPPOSES THE DEATH PENALTY - (A LIBERAL POSITION); HE THINKS THE STATE DOESN'T HAVE THAT SAME RIGHT, EVEN IF A JURY AND UNGTEEN APPEALS COURTS SAY THE CONVICT IS GUILTY OF A CRIME WORTHY OF THE DEATH PENALTY.

• (IT'S AS IF GLENN BELIEVES THE SNAP JUDGMENT OF A CITIZEN PROTECTING LIFE AND LIMB WAS QUALITATIVELY BETTER THAN THE CAREFUL JUDGMENT IN OUR JUDICIAL SYSTEM OVER YEARS!)

• DOES HE THINK THAT SOCIETY HAS NO RIGHT OF SELF DEFENSE?
• OR, THAT THIS RIGHT DIMINISHES IF THE PENALTY COMES YEARS AFTER THE CRIME AND NOT IN THE SPLIT SECOND OF THE CRIME?
• IT'S ILLOGICAL AND AN EXAMPLE OF HIS AMORAL HYPOCRISY.
  
• AND HOW HE PANDERS TO THE MIDDLE.

HERE'S ANOTHER:

• GLENN THINKS IT'S RIGHT AND MORAL FOR THE USA TO INTERVENE TO PREVENT GENOCIDE - IN AFRICA, FOR EXAMPLE OR IRAQ - (A CONSERVATIVE POSITION), BUT...

• THE STATE SHOULDN'T INTERVENE IF THE HUMAN IS STILL IN A WOMAN'S WOMB - (A LIBERAL POSITION).

• WHY?! I GUESS BECAUSE HE FEELS THAT THE UNIQUE AND UTTERLY VULNERABLE HUMAN BEING WHO IS STILL IN HER MOTHER'S WOMB DOESN'T HAVE THE SAME RIGHT TO LIVE THAT THE VULNERABLE AND IMPOVERISHED, IGNORANT, TRIBAL CHILDREN OF DARFUR HAVE BECAUSE THEY'RE OUTSIDE THEIR MOTHER'S WOMB.

• I'D GUESS THAT GLENN OPPOSES INFANTICIDE, AND GENDER-BASED ABORTION. SO... WHY ALLOW IT FOR THE CONVENIENCE OF THE MOTHER?
  
• THE FETUS IS NOT PART OF THE MOTHER; IT IS A NEW AND UNIQUE HUMAN BEING. ABORTION IS NOT AMPUTATION.
  
• (THE BABY IN THE JPEG TO THE RIGHT IS 20 WEEKS OLD - AND "ABORTIONABLE.")

I THINK GLENN IS LIKE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO THINK THAT MODERATION IS ALWAYS BEST AND THAT ANY MID-WAY COMPROMISE WHICH SPLITS THE DIFFERENCE IS GOOD.

• BUT SPLITTING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS WRONG DOESN'T YIELD SOMETHING THAT IS RIGHT.

• AND HYPOCRISY ON DEEP MORAL VALUES - APPLYING VALUES SELECTIVELY BASED ON HOW POPULAR THE OUTCOME MIGHT BE - CAN'T YIELD ANYTHING GOOD.

GLENN - WHO IS VERY OFTEN AND VERY WRONGLY CALLED A CONSERVATIVE - WOULD PROBABLY CALL HIMSELF A CENTRIST OR MODERATE AS IF THAT WERE A GOOD THING IN AND OF ITSELF.

BUT REMEMBER:

EXTREMISM IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE.

AND MODERATION IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE IS NO VIRTUE.