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responsibility
May. 4th, 2011 08:59 amIn the wake of the OBL raid, I've been thinking on the law changes our country has enacted-- from Bush declaring the Geneva conventions do not apply in the war on terror, to the Patriot Act, to the Military Commissions Act-- and have come to stronger realization why all of this is going in the wrong direction.
Some times, on rare occasions, doing the right thing for the greater good can involve breaking the law. The modern response, to change the law-- to create legal loopholes-- is exactly the wrong thing. These sorts of decisions cannot be made lightly, in the safe embrace of legal standing. These decisions can only be made by someone so committed to their moral responsibilities that they are willing to act with no protections. A true leader must be willing to stand trial and be judged for their actions.
All of these laws are like nothing so much as a spectrum filter-- it doesn't remove the blood on one's hands, it just temporarily removes the ability to see red.
Some times, on rare occasions, doing the right thing for the greater good can involve breaking the law. The modern response, to change the law-- to create legal loopholes-- is exactly the wrong thing. These sorts of decisions cannot be made lightly, in the safe embrace of legal standing. These decisions can only be made by someone so committed to their moral responsibilities that they are willing to act with no protections. A true leader must be willing to stand trial and be judged for their actions.
All of these laws are like nothing so much as a spectrum filter-- it doesn't remove the blood on one's hands, it just temporarily removes the ability to see red.
