[ExI] Call To Libertarians

[Darren Greer]

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 6:08 PM, Jeff Davis <jrd1415 at gmail.com> wrote:


 the AP takes no position. No position
> means NO POSITION. No position means being "agnostic" on EVERYTHING
> else. Individual AP members have their own views of course, but as a
> unified organization, the AP takes no position on: abortion, taxes,
> gay marriage, gun rights, defense policy, campaign finance, racial
> discrimination, immigration, terrorism, hate-speech, Israel, education
> policy, environmentalism, global warming, etc.
>
> The two issues which the AP devotes its exclusive focus are:
> accountability: no one is above the law. Everyone, but in particular
> persons in high position who have traditionally 'enjoyed' immunity
> from prosecution, will now have their get out of jail free cards
> voided.




The idea that a society, or a party, takes no official position on anything
other than the law or accountability is not that far afield from the
territorial morality idea I posted about. If the general rule of law was
that any body was free to do anything as long as it didn't hurt anyone else
would mean not only that official moral positions wouldn't need to be taken
but individuals ones wouldn't have to be either, except as it related to how
you chose to govern yourself. But if you do hurt someone you are prosecuted,
and swiftly. Not for crimes of moral turpitude, but for violating the rights
of another. Period.

After 9/11, this principle would have served us well. If instead of
declaring war, which actually gives a legal sanction to atrocities, we had
simply said we are dealing with criminals and mass murderers who have
violated not just the rights of Americans but all human beings, we probably
could have forged a better consensus. Initially Iran was on board, and even
Hezbollah was appalled at what happened in New York. That event proved, at
least to my mind, that there is a lowering threshold for horror among human
beings. But instead we moralized it, and politicized it, and the whole thing
fell apart.

Of course, to get there, religion would need to go. Its bread and better is
morally judging the behavior of others. The master stroke of Christianity
was removing sex from the realm of the sacred, where the pagans kept it, and
tossing it into the pits of the profane. This ensured that all human beings
were sinful by nature and could not stray far from the pulpits of power.
(Forgive that little run of alliteration.) :)

Darren



Darren

-- 
*There is no history, only biography.*
*
*
*-Ralph Waldo Emerson
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