Dailyfare has a diary on the recommended list at the moment that gathers a number of arguments currently being circulated in opposition to those at this site who would oppose Barack Obama's decision to forego prosecutions against torturers. Those arguments fail on a number of grounds.
First, this diarist constructs a strawman, counterpoising those who would "moralize" vs. those who would seek constructive action.
Then we are told if we do seek action that it would be a) destructive of other goals sought by progressives, and b) fruitless anyway, because the country doesn't support prosecutions at a sufficient level.
Most pernicious, perhaps, of his/her arguments is the implication that the general public was indifferent to the issue of whether torture was used or not after 9/11 ("didn't give a rat's butt"). This assertion, backed by not an iota of fact except the author's own sense of internal certainty, posits a "complicit" populace willing to see anything done, including torture, to "get the bad guys."
This revisionist rewrite of history ignores that after 9/11 the population was in a heightened state of fear, confusion, and near panic. People didn't care about shopping then, either, as the empty storefronts in the months that followed testifies. Turning the American people into a parody of blood-thirsty revenge-seekers is one of the worst aspects of positions such as the one the diarist has taken.
Furthermore, the appeal to numbers is not one that any Democrat would want to take. With only a 56.8% national turnout in the last election, the amount of the country that supported Barack Obama for president was, by that essential count, approximately a quarter of the electorate, much less than those who want prosecutions right now.
The point is, anyone can play with numbers. (And here's where the unavoidable "moralism" comes in -- though I'd prefer to call it good ethics.) What matters is to do what's right. Isn't that what we teach our children? Or is it all one big cynical pile of horse manure?
Thomas Jefferson said that one person with courage is a majority. What does that mean to you?
We know what the diarist thinks, though.
Doing something just because it's right has NEVER been the way this country has operated. NEVER.
Now, I'm as critical of things this country has done as anybody on this site, but Dailyfare's statement is breathtaking in its nihilistic despair. And yet this is the bottom-line argument given by those who oppose standing up against the current administration's policy of giving what amounts to immunity from prosecution to torturers.
The dust is being kicked up by many who oppose prosecutions, because they are either afraid of the political fights that would result, or for other reasons perhaps too numerous to know. Some, certainly, are closet supporters of torture. I cannot presume to know what motivates Dailyfare.
The United States is at a crossroads of its history. Will we complete the turn into a torturing nation? The little-criticized Army Field Manual still carries techniques that are condemned by human rights groups (including sleep deprivation, isolation, and manipulation of phobias). What is to prevent a return of the old torture regime if the current criminals are not only not prosecuted, but remain in their jobs, i.e., at the CIA or Department of Defense?
We must reject the false dichotomy, such as Dailyfare proposes, between expressing a moral stand and taking action. They are two sides of the same coin. We must expect more of this kind of attack, and should brace ourselves accordingly.
One thing for certain: this fight will not end until torture is forever made anathema, and those who engage in such a crime against humanity made to stand in the dock of justice to receive fair trial and, if sentenced, imprisonment.
UPDATE (3pm PDT):
For those looking to take action, whether it's writing the President or signing petitions to the Attorney General in favor of prosecutions, or signing a petition to impeach Judge Jay Bybee, please go to buhdydharma's diary, posted earlier today, listing many resources. Or stop by Docudharma, where action info is posted each day on the right hand side of the main page.