1. I was thinking tonight about how much my country has changed, and how sad it makes me.
2. And I was also thinking about how many people would respond to this, critically, and say: what about the 2008 financial crisis, or the opioid epidemic, or the fruitless Iraq war - how can you be more upset at the "tone" of the Trump Era than at the real cost of these things?
3. Two examples occurred to me that might help explain how and why I do feel more upset. One has to do with truth and honesty, the other with our moral sensibilities.
4. The invasion of Iraq, we all know, was predicated on the idea that Saddam had significant stores of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which posed a clear and present danger. And, as we all know, when we invaded we didn't find anything close to that.
5. While President Bush's supporters, and the war's advocates, weren't exactly eager to openly advertise that fact, they did tacitly acknowledge it, and didn't dispute it. It was embarrassing and damaging, but they couldn't dispute it.
6. They never seriously entertained, I don't think, having the President vocally and colorfully assert that - evidence to the contrary - they DID find TONS of WMD, and repeat it often enough that nobody really knew what to believe.
7. They could have done that. And if inspectors or even Administration officials came out and refuted it, they could have savaged them as traitors and liars with a hidden political agenda to hurt the President.
8. I don't think you could take that for granted today.
9. A second example: when the torture photos from Abu Ghraib came out. People may have disagreed about the war, but no one - no one serious, at least - disagreed that what happened there was abhorrent, wrong, and extremely harmful to both our values and our mission.
10. People may have disagreed about exactly who should be held responsible, but no one disagreed that a crime had been committed and someone should be punished for it.
11. But given what happened with the recent pardons, I'm not sure we could take that for granted today either.
12. I think there's a very real chance that, given some signals from the President, a troop of people would line up on radio, TV, etc to rationalize, justify, and even celebrate it.
13. I suspect that people who denounced it would be derided, in many quarters, as overly squeamish, lacking the guts to "do what it takes".
14. Yes, I'm aware there was a debate over torture long before Trump. But it was largely over where the line should be, not whether drawing a line at all was for sissies.
15. In both of these examples, we've changed. The difference isn't that we were perfect before. We weren't perfect before. The difference is whether we even give a damn.
16. I don't think either of those two situations would play out today like they played out then. I think the way they would play out today would be inconceivable then. And it troubles me.
17. People will always disagree about what it true and false, right and wrong, good and bad. And we will always fall short of these marks. But as long as we believe they matter, and measure ourselves by them, there is always the chance to find the right path.
18. But when we stop thinking they matter, or start measuring them by ourselves (instead of the other way around) ... then we are lost.
I almost used the word "lodestar" < wink >
