Principles

I have a principled stand against the use of violence. I deplore it with every fiber of my being. But I am in a position to afford this principle: I do not have the fate of millions of people in my hands, who might be spared violence, even death, by a violent action that I might commit, or order. What I do have is the memory of too numerous occasions, in my own lifetime, when millions were in fact allowed to die excruciating deaths because of the inaction of leaders who could have acted with brute force to prevent it. And even then, in the end, those same leaders were often left with no option but to take the violent action anyway.

We love our principles. They are by nature simple and clear-cut. They allow of no diversion, no excuse. The world, by contrast, is infinitely complex, as are the human beings who inhabit it. I wish it were otherwise, but clear moral choices are muddied when it comes to the practical reality of events on the world stage, where the lives of millions of human beings are at stake. In such situations, those we have chosen to lead us are left with agonizing choices whose resolution may subvert our most cherished principles. None of which excuses us--or them, of course--from the necessity of striving in every way we can to hold ourselves to those principles in which we deeply believe.

It's an ongoing process. We make some good choices, some bad. It's often hard to tell which is which, to judge from the results. But, as I think Jean-Paul Sartre once said--correct me if I'm wrong: we are engaged. We cannot but stumble forward in the struggle, doing the best we can. This is why, despite all my personal misgivings--indeed, my personal revulsion--I cannot fault the president for failing to order all our troops, immediately, out of Afghanistan.