An Immoral Calculus

I just read a post by Russell Shaw at Huffington Post. He asks a question about what he calls a 'calculus' and asks if it has a moral validity. His calculus? Would a terror attack that killed an unspecified number of Americans just before the election and therefore swept the Democrats into office be a really cool and neat way to win the election? (I'm paraphrasing a bit).

The short answer: No.

The longer answer: If a terror attack happens on this country before the election do you honestly believe your words will not come back to haunt you and everyone you support? They will. Promise.

This is probably the most obscene line of political reasoning I have seen. If your ambition to gain political power is so lacking in morality as to make you yearn for the deaths of your fellow citizens, you have lost any claim to any moral high ground.

A thought experiment: Turn the parties around and ask Mr. Shaw's question. Insert any political group. Insert people from other countries and switch their political groups in. See the problem?

There is no way to make such calculus anything but immoral, Mr. Shaw. No way whatsoever.

UPDATE: Others suitably impressed with Shaw: Say Anything, Hot Air, Right Wing News, Ace of Spades, LGF, Done With Mirrors (Callimachus delivers a severe smackdown – don't miss it), Redstate, The Real Ugly American, Urban Grounds, And as of this update, 10:04 PM CDT, not one single left wing blog is condemning this that I can see. Not one.

UPDATE: Caerdroia (Fisking very thoroughly), Argghhh, PoliPundit, Liberty and Justice, All Things Beautiful, Strategic Outlook Institute, GOP and College, Right Wing Sparkle, Dr. Melissa Clouthier, Florida Cracker, And I still cannot find one left wing blog – I went quite a ways into a Technorati search.

categories Politics | Gaius August 25, 2006

Other Links to this Post

  1. UrbanGrounds » Blog Archive » I Hope and Pray that Russel Shaw Doesn’t Get Hit By a Bus…BUT… — August 25, 2006 @ 7:46 pm

  2. The Real Ugly American.com » Blog Archive » Who is Russel Shaw and what the hell is he thinking? — August 25, 2006 @ 8:53 pm

  3. All Things Beautiful — August 26, 2006 @ 6:57 am

WordPress Themes