There is an essential logical flaw to the notion that, because we tortured people in the past, and we're trying to look forward, we're not going to prosecute these past events. All crimes are in the past when prosecuted. We do not prosecute people for future crimes. We assert that, under our judicial system, all people are innocent until proven guilty. Obviously they are proven guilty of crimes they committed in the past.
On the basis of the logic some are attempting to apply to torture, one could argue that no crimes would ever be prosecuted, because we're looking forward. According to this logic, all victims should simply never complain or cry out for justice, since they are looking backward.
On the whole, the cry for justice always looks backward to past injustices, while attempting to right the wrong in the present or in the future....looking forward. To deny the need to look backward, to correct injustices in the past, those who advocate "looking forward" deny the very nature of justice - which ALWAYS looks backward.
I campaigned and voted for President Obama. I expect more from him than this "forward looking" stuff.
Notes From The Rust Belt arises out of the gathering storm clouds facing the United States in 2009 and beyond. The image of the rust belt conjures up the movement of American jobs from our shores, leaving the rusting ruins of our former manufacturing strength. It was this strength that allowed this country to emerge as a superpower out of World War 2, and served as the engine for the emergence of the Middle Class along with other forces, such as a strong labor movement and the G.I. Bill of Rights. We now find ourselves watching this Middle Class atrophying before our eyes, and simultaneously seem to have no control over this rapid fall in our mutually held democracy and strength.
This blog subscribes to the notion that the demise of the Middle Class is not accidental, but rather serves the interest of powerful forces, forces that are decidedly nondemocratic. Notes From The Rust Belt is dedicated to a lively discussion of these issues, along with future efforts to point toward the necessary changes to restore our country to the democratic ideals upon which it was founded.
There is an essential logical flaw to the notion that, because we tortured people in the past, and we're trying to look forward, we're not going to prosecute these past events. All crimes are in the past when prosecuted. We do not prosecute people for future crimes. We assert that, under our judicial system, all people are innocent until proven guilty. Obviously they are proven guilty of crimes they committed in the past.
On the basis of the logic some are attempting to apply to torture, one could argue that no crimes would ever be prosecuted, because we're looking forward. According to this logic, all victims should simply never complain or cry out for justice, since they are looking backward.
On the whole, the cry for justice always looks backward to past injustices, while attempting to right the wrong in the present or in the future....looking forward. To deny the need to look backward, to correct injustices in the past, those who advocate "looking forward" deny the very nature of justice - which ALWAYS looks backward.
I campaigned and voted for President Obama. I expect more from him than this "forward looking" stuff.