As so often happens, David Brooks writes a column that resembles the pile of manure underneath which the little girl hoped to find a Christmas pony. It is abundantly clear that he is too full of himself, too smugly self-satisfied with his role as an arbiter of morality to even be aware of the possibility that his position guarantees the demise of the free society in which he has prospered. Being kind to one's enemies is a Biblical virtue only as applied to individuals, and not to nations, and it is well to remember that that same Bible admonishes against throwing pearls to swine. In point of fact these seemingly contradictory sentiments are expressed by the same person, Jesus, which tells us clearly that context determines when each is to be applied. Returning mercy to one's implacable mortal enemy only assures one's own demise, so by applying this maxim to the wrong person at the wrong time is tantamount to suicide, which is equivalent to murder and is equally and properly condemned. Thus, killing an enemy who has sworn one's death is as justifiable as any form of self-defense. Likewise, it is the government's responsibility to gurantee the safety of its citizens, and if that requires kiling citizens of a regime that has threatened to destroy it, again, totally justified if conducted in accordance with commonly accepted principles of warfare. (Killing civilians is acceptable if it is the by-product of an otherwise justifiable military objective whereas merely killing civilians for the sake of killing civilians is not justified.) So I say, as I have said since the outset, we must allow the Israelis to conduct their war as they see fit, unless it directly and significantly adversly impacts our own national interest and that of our citizens, at which point we have a legitimate reason to intervene. We have not reached that point yet and probably won't, given Israel's track record on prosecuting such hostilities. Where and what is the hidden pony, you ask? That is the point; there is none. Brooks simply piles on more manure to the already Augean quantity he has assembled over the years.
As so often happens, David Brooks writes a column that resembles the pile of manure underneath which the little girl hoped to find a Christmas pony. It is abundantly clear that he is too full of himself, too smugly self-satisfied with his role as an arbiter of morality to even be aware of the possibility that his position guarantees the demise of the free society in which he has prospered. Being kind to one's enemies is a Biblical virtue only as applied to individuals, and not to nations, and it is well to remember that that same Bible admonishes against throwing pearls to swine. In point of fact these seemingly contradictory sentiments are expressed by the same person, Jesus, which tells us clearly that context determines when each is to be applied. Returning mercy to one's implacable mortal enemy only assures one's own demise, so by applying this maxim to the wrong person at the wrong time is tantamount to suicide, which is equivalent to murder and is equally and properly condemned. Thus, killing an enemy who has sworn one's death is as justifiable as any form of self-defense. Likewise, it is the government's responsibility to gurantee the safety of its citizens, and if that requires kiling citizens of a regime that has threatened to destroy it, again, totally justified if conducted in accordance with commonly accepted principles of warfare. (Killing civilians is acceptable if it is the by-product of an otherwise justifiable military objective whereas merely killing civilians for the sake of killing civilians is not justified.) So I say, as I have said since the outset, we must allow the Israelis to conduct their war as they see fit, unless it directly and significantly adversly impacts our own national interest and that of our citizens, at which point we have a legitimate reason to intervene. We have not reached that point yet and probably won't, given Israel's track record on prosecuting such hostilities. Where and what is the hidden pony, you ask? That is the point; there is none. Brooks simply piles on more manure to the already Augean quantity he has assembled over the years.