Posted by The Happy Tutor
To amplify a comment by AKMA on a post of mine on Gonzalez as postmodern interpreter of the Constitution: Can we say that the opposite of "true" in interpretation of texts is not, so much, "false," but, as in carpentry (Jesus's old trade), "crooked"? So, seeing interpretation of foundational texts as a fiduciary responsibility of their guardians (whether a priest of the Bible, a scholar of Milton, or an Attorney General of the Constitution) can we say that certain interpretations are:
- conniving
- contemptuous of the community the interpreter is charged to preserve
- intellectually dishonest
- shabby
- malign
- malevolent
- sinister
- facile as the devil, the prince of lies, is facile
- culpable
- a betrayal?
Now, let us go further. Let us say the language of ethics as used above is appropriate when an authorized interpreter abuses his or her trust and imperils not only the text but the community of which it is the foundation. My question then is how does one not just name, but diminish, punish, check, and eliminate such unethical actions when those actions are performed by those entrenched in power well above one's own, and in fact when those who enact these violations of their fiduciary responsibility are the very ones who by delegated authority are charged with determining what is or is not appropriate, legal, ethical, etc.? "Culpable," the one in charge would say; "traitor?," he would would say, bristling with the wounded narcissism of a wouldbe tryant, "I, Alberto Gonzalez, am the duly constituted Attorney General of the United States of America, the Greatest Nation on Earth, the Defender of Freedom over all the Globe. I am the best judge of what is or is not culpable. Besides in time of war, I take directions from the Decider himself, who is the Protector of our Constitution, and he decides what it means, upon my advice and counsel. Who are you to rebuke me? Calling properly constituted authority into question in time of war makes you the traitor. You may test our new alternative procedures, built with you in mind. I through the powers vested in me by the Decider deem you a Terrorist!" At which point of course anything goes, and no appeal is possible, and the accused is swallowed up in a pit, much like those our forefathers fought to save us from, under the heel of Imperial England.
Given the disposition of brute and brutal force now in play, if writing an essay will help, write one. If doing a deconstruction will help bring the malefactors in charge of justice to justice themselves, then please deconstruct. But I doubt that any of that will work. For an unjust action by those in power, an equally powerful counter-action is required. Words as deeds against words as deeds. Deed against deeds. Satire comes to mind, social organizing, and raising money to promulgate what is truest in our traditions. What is truest includes our own willingness to press the point towards a moment of truth, when the adversary must go too far, making good on the implicit threat to persecute those who defend liberty. AKMA speaks of Gonzalez's interpretation as showing,
a culpable disregard for the American civil institutions he supposedly cherishes, for the aspirations of the countless souls who have turned to the Constitution as a charter of liberty, for the principle of the presumption of innocence, and for the well-being of flesh-and-blood prisoners for whose misery he has provided the rationale.
In so speaking words that might be deemed treasonous by a traitor come to power, AKMA puts himself at risk for the good of the nation. His words are true. Trued up, in solidarity with those who will not accept tyranny on America's soil even if imposed by the Attorney General, and the President of the United States, and the National Guard under some pretext requiring, in their view, martial law under the Military Commissions Act. Gonzalez's text, like so many other fox-footed little steps before it from this administration, is testing us to see when if ever we will resist in the name of the Constitution they would betray.
Mr. Gonzalez, Your Honor, to the list of those to be disappeared, please add Dick Minim. He told me he wants to be first to go. "We Minims," he says, "have never shirked our duty, unlike certain upstarts I could name." And he means you, Alberto. He means you are a dishonorable low minded scoundrel, up from nothing, and destined in for calumny and shame, your name a byword for hypocrisy - a lasting blot upon your family, country, and people. That is what Dick said, Sir. You can take it up with him. My views are more moderate. I respect the Office, and you as a fallible mortal human creature, struggling with mixed motives in the dark light of your own soul, as I am. You have done nothing in selling out your country that I might have done had the opportunity presented itself, and if I thought I would benefit personally, and if I thought I could rig things up so as to get off scott free and persecute all who tried to bring me to justice. Rather than casting aspersions upon those in power, I take the position of Jesus, "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's." I take that to mean that we should leave well enough alone and hope things work out for the best. I for one don't want to get toasted by your new heat ray mounted on a Humvee, Mr. Gonzalez. (They say it only gently burns, but I suspect you have a rheostat on that thing that goes up all the way to "cook" and "broil.") If AKMA gets roasted alive, I will feel honor bound to follow. But I would rather he goes first. A gentle Christian theologian would make a good martyr. He and Dick both. Just leave me out of it. I will do whatever I am told by those in authority over me, and there are many, many of them, since I am the lowest of the low. You got the power, that means you got the right. Right and wrong are whatever you say they are. I read Nietzsche, Machiavelli, Strauss. The important thing for me is to save my own ass. Thus interpretive communities, churches, nations, brothels, and criminal gangs are built and maintained by moral choices made or evaded, together or apart.
God bless America, land of the free, home of the brave.
What a joke, next thing you know they will be inditing our President for war crimes. If anyone should understand the need for a strong leader, an abrogation of international law, secret police, torture, and government propaganda in time of war, it should be the Germans. Why don't these hypocrites get off our back? At least we don't dress the CIA in black uniforms. Although, those leather coats did look good on a man. God, they make me hot. Waffen CIA. God, with a monocle and a shaven head. Makes me think of forced enemas too. I may be older, but I could supervise. So, fuck war crimes. We have to make the world safe for Freedom. 
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