"It profits me but little that a vigilant authority always protects the tranquillity of my pleasures and constantly averts all dangers from my path, without my care or concern, if this same authority is the absolute master of my liberty and my life."

--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Through the Looking Glass With Obama

"Liberal" used to mean at least an opposition to arbitrary government power vested in a single man, whether king or dictator, and support for consensual government and the rule of law.  But today liberalism means unwavering obeisance to Obama.   Whatever the Prince says, liberals simply bow and scrape and applaud.   We're through the looking glass if the New York Times can publish an op-ed that starts like this:

Op-Ed Contributor

Bomb Syria, Even if It Is Illegal


EVANSTON, Ill. — THE latest atrocities in the Syrian civil war, which has killed more than 100,000 people, demand an urgent response to deter further massacres and to punish President Bashar al-Assad. But there is widespread confusion over the legal basis for the use of force in these terrible circumstances. As a legal matter, the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons does not automatically justify armed intervention by the United States.       

There are moral reasons for disregarding the law, and I believe the Obama administration should intervene in Syria. But it should not pretend that there is a legal justification in existing law.
 

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