When Bad Becomes Good
Lost on The Sea of Human Opinion
By Al Cronkrite The Covenant News ~ May 21, 2005
William Norman Grigg's "The Last Word" in the February 21st Issue of The New American is entitled "The Harm that 'Good People' Do". In it he points to the irony of a high government official who is a Sunday school teacher and promoter of non-violence in his own family authoring a memorandum proposing the use of torment, pain, anguish and agony on prisoners. Assistant Attorney General Jay S. Bybee is the author of the August 1, 2002 "torture memorandum". Grigg writes,
"The same gentle soul whose household rule is 'don't hit' wrote that interrogation techniques 'may be cruel, inhuman, or degrading, but still not produce pain and suffering of the requisite intensity' to meet the legal definition of torture. Furthermore, enforcement of laws against torture 'may be barred because enforcement of the statute would represent and unconstitutional infringement of the President's authority to conduct war."
This memorandum written for now Attorney General Alberto Gonzales indicates "our nation has a chief law enforcement officer who, prior to his appointment, endorsed the notion that the president and his agents are above the law".
Understanding that good men are capable of evil actions seems to escape the attention of those involved in the humanist revolution. Mafia dons were often fine family men who doted on children and not wanting to allow the goose with the golden egg to pass away, they were also patriotic. I recall seeing a documentary on the lives of Hitler's cadre; they, too, were patriotic and often fine family men.
As the legal structure of our society becomes more and more despotic, American law enforcement agents find themselves enforcing arbitrary humanistic laws with procedures similar to the German Gestapo and the Russian KGB. As this change progresses these former "peace officers" must transfer their allegiance from the people to the government and as citizens become the enemy, they must endure the additional danger involved in facing suppressed fear and hate from the populace. This increased resistance to their authority is countered with more stringent procedures which advances a vicious circle the end of which may be similar to the description of Russian society by Alexander Solhenitzyn,
"Someone knocks at the door of Nikolai Kryukov, they have come to fix the gas; he opens the door. They beat him to death in his own house because he has defended dissidents and signed protests. All this happens in a flat. But on a street at five o'clock in the afternoon --- Malva Landa is seized and dragged into a car. She screamed, 'Citizens, I'm being kidnapped" and hundreds of people heard, passed by. They were afraid, because anybody can be seized like that, under the very eyes of passers-by."
Most law enforcement personnel are probably considered "good people" by their families and neighbors but they are capable of egregious evil and will quickly participate when objectives require it. Jobs seem always to trump righteousness!
Our school system is administered by capable teachers and staff; they, too, are mostly good people. However in conduct reminiscent of "One Few over the Coo Coos Nest" our conflicted and handicapped school system, carefully protected by the media, called police to restrain students. In one instance a seven-year-old ended up in handcuffs more recently a five year old girl is similarly restrained. A few months ago a teacher was incorrectly fired when students concocted a story of sex in the classroom and today's paper contained a story of five and six year old boys assaulting a little girl in the men's room.
The teachers and the policemen and women involved in this absurdity are considered "good people".
Myriads of Fundamentalist, Evangelical, and Charismatic Christians lend their support to an evil Israeli government that has set up an alien State, displaced the owners of the property, and tyrannized their persons. Backed by a bastardization of orthodox Christianity devised from a mix of pietism and humanism these American citizens, all "good people", have contributed to fifty years of war in the Middle East and are now supporting the illegal invasion of a sovereign nation that not only never threatened.
America but never had the ability to do so.
The Genesis of this tragedy was the election of George W. Bush, a good person with good but malignant intentions. His election was brought about by "good people" many of whom considered him the lesser of two evils and who failed to vote for another candidate who promised to reform our government because that candidate had "no chance of winning". These "good people" were perfectly willing to accept the evil in order to get a little righteousness. They got lots of the former but little, if any, of the latter.
Paul Craig Roberts and Lawrence Stratton wrote a book about justice by opinion rather than by the Constitution. They titled the book The Tyranny of Good Intentions. The title is pregnant with other connotations.
In 1993 the government of President William Jefferson Clinton and his Attorney General, Janet Reno, were responsible for the deaths of over eighty men, women, and children at the Branch Davidian Compound in Waco, Texas. President Clinton was an intellectually brilliant, articulate and accomplished politician and Janet Reno was a smart, no-nonsense former Florida judge. The illegal hectoring force amassed to retaliate against Davidian resistance, sought revenge and was supported in their quest. Strangely, no one was held accountable for these murders. Some of the leaders have received promotions and former President Clinton is now consorting with our current President's father. Many of the agents involved in the massacre were "good people" and probably thought they were wiping out evil.
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected in 1932 the Nation was in the throes of a contrived recession. His efforts to end the down turn by controlling America's socio/economic future were gratefully received by most American citizens but, although largely ineffective in relieving the recession, they set the stage for the end of individual freedom and responsibility, concepts that had made America strong. The New Deal was bolstered with good intentions.
Some of the most talented and brilliant individuals in our Nation are members of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). This group of un-elected individuals with foreign connections, the backing of influential bankers and several of our large foundations has tremendous influence on the conduct of our government and are bent on imposing their good intentions on the world.
Prisons were once hopeful of redeeming the criminals they housed and our prisons are still known as "houses of correction". Unfortunately the good intentions have become lost in attempts to control the millions of inmates who have fallen victim to our tangled legal system.
America is home to hosts of "free-traders". It is their good intention to make America more prosperous through supporting free trade. Their support has helped lend credence to the controlled free trade being foisted on America by those whose agendas it helps. Their good intentions are gutting American industry and displacing our work force.
Christians are not immune. Intentions that seem good to perspective church members do not always seem good to the God they profess to worship. The Christian religion is not seeker friendly and those portions of the Gospel that create stumbling blocks to nominal Christians are of vital importance to its strength.
As immigrants illegally pour over our Southwestern border their intentions are good. Many seek to augment the finances of their poor family members and are willing to work hard for low wages in order to do so. In some there is also the understanding that the land they are invading formerly belonged to Mexico.
America's leaders have dallied with torture and their dalliance has resulted in its use by our Armed forces at Abu Grahav. The History Channel recently ran a documentary on torture and its historic use. The punishment meted out by "good people" was specifically designed to inflict terror and pain on those unlucky enough to garner the ire of the higher powers.
Considering all the bad things "good people" do, often with good intentions, one wonders why it is so difficult for most to understand that human beings inhabited by evil, were not created to govern themselves and when they do tyranny and bad things invariable happen.
When the anchor of God's Laws is forsaken and human wisdom is substituted we are adrift on the sea of human opinion.