The inevitable consequence of the most powerful nation in the world taking the low road:
Several governments around the world have tried to rebut criticism of how they handle detainees by claiming they are only following the U.S. example in fighting terrorism, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture said Monday. Manfred Nowak said that when he criticizes governments for their questionable treatment of detainees, they respond by telling him that if the United States does something, it must be all right…. “Today, many other governments are kind of saying: ‘But why are you criticizing us? We are not doing something different than what the United States is doing.’ “
This is Leadership 101: the most powerful party in a situation sets the moral standard. If you don’t want your employees to steal from the office supplies, don’t steal from the office supplies. If you don’t want your kid to hit other people, don’t hit your kid. If you don’t want your students to plagiarize, don’t rip off someone else’s lecture without attribution. If you want other nations to stop torturing, don’t torture.
George W. Bush, the vast majority of Republicans in Congress and a shocking number of Democrats in Congress have failed Leadership 101.
Leadership 102: Leaders are those who set a standard and then hold others accountable to it. If the people lead by setting a moral standard against torture and holding politicians electorally accountable to it, the politicians will follow in due time — or be replaced by those who will follow. The direction of the government is a test of the ability of the people to hold their politicians to account.
