My Sandbox Was Bought with Blood Money, and So Was Yours

The crime rate in America was just skyrocketing through the 60s 70s and 80s.  Experts were predicting that we were headed to universal bars on the windows, and even martial law, let alone the expenses and economic disaster of trying to manage such a large prison population.  Had the crime rate continued the way it was, we were looking at a police state and total anarchy by now.

But then in the early 90s something strange happened.  The crime rate began to fall, and has continued to drop since then.  Gang activity has dropped, and car theft, rape, murder, it seems all of it, across the board.  Amazing right?  It seems that as a society we have finally managed to sort out our problems and really get to the root of our collective problem.  It was probably education and the war on drugs that did the trick.  Right?

Nope.  In fact per capita drug use has remained roughly the same and addiction is still a major problem, with well over 90% of prisoners in America incarcerated either directly or indirectly due to drugs.  So, what happened?  How did we manage this incredible feat? 

We decided to kill the criminals before they decided to commit the crime!  How brilliant is that?  Yes.  Really.  Did you know that was the law in America?  Well of course, it isn’t written exactly like that.  I mean…there would probably be a massive uprising if we wrote a law saying we should kill as many potential criminals as possible before they could commit a crime.  That would be, just, barbaric!  Right?  Yeah.  Barbaric.

Yeah….barbaric.

But we are, and we have been for 40 years now, which is why we are enjoying a greatly reduced crime rate.  In 1973 abortion was legalized, and there are all sorts of reasons why I oppose abortion, but this one has just nagged at me for a few years now.  I read the book Freakonomics by Stephen J. Dubner, Steven D. Levitt , and they discussed all the demographics and statistics connecting the dropping crime rate and showing how it is a direct correlation to abortion.  In essence, the very same people who would be most likely to have an abortion are also the people most likely to raise criminal children who then become criminal adults.  So the abortion industry clearly targets the young, ethnic, unmarried, poor girls and kills their children which then prevents them from growing up in a single parent household with no father and in poverty, which is the same demographic most likely to join in gang activity, and criminal behavior.  

We killed them before they could kill us.  How clever we are.  How progressive and civilized.

My problem now is that I actually enjoy taking my kids to the park without being afraid, and I like not having my car stolen.  I abhor what is happening and can’t escape the benefits to me.  Should I not enjoy the park knowing the price that was paid for my clean and safe sand box and expanse of lush lawn?  That safety was bought with blood money.  It has caused me a lot of cognitive dissonance, and a sense of shame.

I can’t offer a solution to my problem.  I am merely extending and invitation to you to join me in my quandary.