The firestorm that Judge Cashman set off when he sentenced Mark Hulett to 60 days in jail for repeatedly raping a young girl continues to rage. Bill O'Reilly got on board last night and again this morning on Fox. Reportedly the governor of Vermont, Jim Douglas has received more emails concerning Judge Cashman's actions than any other issue ever. Still Governor has yet to respond on his website (as of 9:15 CDT; 1-11-06). It is as I predicted yesterday, that the people of Vermont will do nothing to right this great injustice or to hold Judge Cashman accountable for his violence against Hulett's victim.
Why am I so confident about this? Because the people of Vermont have bought into a humanist worldview. When Vermont's legislature passed a homosexual civil union bill in 2000, many conservatives warned that this action would open the floodgate to legitimizing all sorts of deviant behavior. When human beings are seen as nothing more than another carbon-based life form whose behavior is controlled by a mixture of physical and mental urges, then there can be no right or wrong. People's actions are simply a response to environmental and instinctual stimulus.
While raping a 7 year old girl is still viewed in Vermont as inappropriate behavior, it is not seen as morally wrong. Thus Hulett shouldn't be punished for acting out his urges, he simply need to be retrained (rehabilitated in Cashman's words) to act in more socially acceptable ways. And coming from a humanist point of view that makes perfect sense.
But to those who believe that there is such a thing as right and wrong, and that the punishment should fit the crime, Hulett's action and Cashman's sentence are morally reprehensible. Bill O'Reilly is encouraging people to email Governor Douglas to express their outrage. I have and I hope you will too. And while I remain very doubtful that anything will be done, I believe that we cannot sit back and do nothing when such a great injustice has occurred in our land.
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