Beware of copying the Left

Bruce W. Green - Guest Columnist - 4/27/2009 7:40:00 AM

Torture may very well work, but should we really be proud of it?
 
When former Vice President Dick Cheney recently went on television and urged the Central Intelligence Agency to release memos that he says show interrogation techniques such as water-boarding are successful, and well-known conservative figures and news agencies jumped on board, I concluded that we are worse off than I had imagined.

The argument back-and-forth goes something like the following. Allegation: "It is not right for the United States to engage in harsh interrogation tactics that constitute torture against our enemies." Response: "Whatever the characterization of the techniques used, the interrogations resulted in acquiring valuable information from America's enemies that kept us safe, so it must be right."
 
Now, it may be true that the word "torture" has undergone such a redefinition by the Left, that it has come to mean anything that triggers fear, discomfort, or anxiety—sort of the equivalent of a grade school classroom spelling exam, but this redefinition does not change the reality that in times of war the treatment of one's enemies can degenerate into behavior that is morally indefensible and even objectively evil. America has always understood this, and our nation, in its policies and practices, has always attempted to rise above the temptation to adopt a utilitarian ("the end justifies the means") philosophy of government, that is, until now. And, unfortunately, it is the modern conservative leaders and pundits who are unwittingly but forcefully assisting us down the path to our own moral destruction. Whether they know it or not, these modern conservatives advocate for us to become like the Left.
 
The Left—modern liberalism or socialism—is not a philosophy. It is merely the action implicit in the philosophy of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is the view that the rightness of an act is determined by its results—and, liberalism/socialism slowly emerges from a pragmatic utilitarian philosophy of life. There is no such thing as the objective "truth" of liberalism/socialism. Modern liberal and socialistic policies stem from the mere habit of acting, or thinking about action, according to utilitarian methods or techniques. Simply put, when one acts, or thinks about acting, based on the philosophy that rightness is determined by results, one naturally and eventually acts in a liberal or socialistic manner. So, the Left, in adopting liberal and socialistic policies, does nothing more than act consistently with its foundational worldview—the rightness of action is determined by whether the results desired are in fact achieved by the action.
 
The problem for former Vice President Cheney, and the many modern conservatives who agree with him, is that they possess a utilitarian, pragmatic, frame of mind (worldview) while nonetheless imagining that they are fighting against the Left. In reality, they are in the process of becoming the Left.
 
If one's behavior is regulated in utilitarian fashion, the educative effect will never fail to be liberal and/or socialistic. The modern conservative who believes and champions the idea that the rightness of an act depends upon its desired results has already abandoned principle and truth, and become a member of the Left, by another name—whether he or she is aware of it or not. To act and think like a member of the Left is to be already a member of the Left, even if one is under the impression they oppose it.
 
It is time to finally understand and admit that well-meaning conservatives these days not only lack a principled doctrine of action, they tend to mimic and adopt the methods of the Left to their own undoing. In the end, that is why our politicians have proven no more virtuous than theirs.
 
But, if liberalism is merely the action implicit in the philosophy of utilitarianism, how then do we explain the Left's apparent opposition to torture techniques? The answer may likely rest in their redefinition of the term and political motives, but, whatever the reason, rest assured that in this matter a liberal is simply a torturer without sufficient motivation and opportunity. That is not to disparage the character of any individual, but simply to recognize that those who fundamentally believe rightness is determined by results will have no qualms in torturing ("interrogating") another person to reach a result they believe is the greatest good for the greatest number in a situation that demands it. A Hollywood liberal, pontificating on the red carpet, or a quasi-socialist, elitist politician on the Washington, DC, cocktail circuit, easily rails against the evils of "torture". But, convince either of them that their own neighborhood will be annihilated in an hour by a nuclear blast unless the government acquires intelligence from a captured terrorist, and they will push each other aside getting in line to torture the poor soul into mindless mush. Why? Because deep in the recesses of their hearts and minds they believe the rightness of their actions is determined by the results of their acts.  
 
I do not profess to know all the interrogation tactics employed by the American government, nor do I know which, if any, of those tactics constitute torture. And, I am aware that the events of September 11, 2001, and subsequent events, have required a reassessment of the tactics of modern warfare. Nonetheless, there remains the reality that certain acts against human beings are by their very nature objectively evil, and if we adopt those acts as means to an end—even a good end—we have already lost our souls, and we have contributed to triumph of the utilitarian Left.
 
And, let's not kid ourselves. The more humane and moral our American history has been in the past, the more likely we are to unintentionally succumb to the belief that we do not err by treating cruelly those known to have taken innocent life. Because, after all, "torture" is what evil terrorists do, and what evil countries do. It is not what America does. What America does is to protect the innocent. If, in order to protect the innocent, we must "harshly interrogate" a murderer, then so be it. Because, after all, people who are tortured are "victims", and everyone knows that a murderer is not a victim. It is easy to wander from the path when you cannot see yourself as capable of being lost.
 
I am concerned for America these days, and not just because we face threats from external forces bent on our destruction. I am most concerned that we—the Left and the Right—have drifted from the path of principle and truth and lost our way in the resulting fog.

COPYRIGHT 2009 BRUCE W. GREEN

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