Sunday, December 14, 2014

digby — Rogue Superpower

In other words, the most powerful nation on earth has no limits and has no obligation to follow any rules, laws or norms.
Welcome to the real world, where there are no rules unless there is an authority and will to impose them. People like Dick Cheney, CEOs that run control frauds,organized crime, etc. knows this and acts accordingly. Get over it.

The only way to deal with this is by gaining that authority and having the will to use it. This is difficult to do. Unless President Obama was liar previous to the election, he thought he would have the authority and will to correct course. It turns out he either didn't have the authority, owing to the way the US government and political system is organized, or didn't have the will to impose it. I think it's a combination of the two.

While one may be shocked and angry over things that governments do, as I am, that's just the way of the world given the level of collective consciousness and the resultant cultural conventions and institutional arrangements at present. 

The US is pretty equally divided on the issue even though the circumstances of torture seem to be clear morally. However, it depends on one's ethical stance. 

According to a broadly accepted version of utilitarian ethics that takes consequences as the criterion, the end justifies the means. Those holding to other versions of utilitarianism, or a version of deontological (rule-based) ethics or virtue (character-based) ethics, this seems abhorrent.

On the other hand, there is also law, and torture is illegal. The only question remains is whether the law was broken, and that is a judicial matter. The president seems not to have the will to proceed on this. In the eyes of many this is a serious character flaw. Some will see it as justified. Others will view it a being pragmatic.

Hullabaloo
Rogue Superpower
digby

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