Lament for a Neighbour

2014 has been a rough year for people who like the United States.

The gap between the super-rich and the poor is wider now than any time in living memory. Forget about a new age of robber barons; we are quickly approaching a new age of feudal lords.

The police establishment's apparent war with young men of colour (the well-known incidents of "blue on black" violence and the less well-publicized epidemic of "blue on red" violence towards First Nations males) has expanded to war with anyone who dares question it.

The government that inspired democracy lovers the world over has degenerated into a cesspit of partisan vitriol where the pursuit of short-term tactical advantage by all parties trumps decisions for the greater good.

Despite frequent exhortations to the Divine, there is a distressing soullessness in America today. The pinnacle - or nadir - of America's devolution has to be the recent release of the torture revelations. The acts of the torturers are bad enough, but it seems to me that even the critics have bought into the arguments of the advocates. Most of the criticism has been about whether torture works, but the issue is not one of efficacy, it is one of morality.

Torture was wrong when the Nazis did it. It was wrong when Stalin's goons did it. It was wrong when the Shah's Savak did it. And it is wrong when the United States does it.

Torture is not wrong because it doesn't work. It is wrong because it is an evil act. It deprives victims of their dignity and basic human rights. it degrades the wretches who administrate it unwillingly and debases the sadists who embrace it with ardour. It subordinates the value of human life to the needs of an impersonal, unfeeling state.

There will come a day when history will judge America's use of torture and will find it wanting. I fear that the day will also come when Americans will also face justice in war crime courts. That will be a sad day, indeed.