Parity in Discipline

The more I read Schechter, the more I realized that he (and others like him) are incapable of recognizing simple contradictions. Aside from the arguments about the pre-war planning and the lack of pre-war planning, there are more generic, global contradictions that are ignored.

As the reasons for the war were promulgated, there was constant push-back about the lack of parity being addressed. “So what if Iraq has WMD, so does Korea, Isreal, Pakistan, India, and other countries. Do you plan to invade them too?” This argument suggests that a consistent approach be taken with each “offending country” in violation of the non-proliferation treaty. While I agree to an extent, the issue that I have is that these are the same people arguing about how wrong the U.S. Attorney General was to suggest that courts not deviate from federal sentencing guidelines for criminals (i.e. consistent sentences for the same crimes). If you don’t want to apply it nationally, why would you want to apply it globally? This contradiction seems to go unnoticed.

For any given infraction of the law (nationally or internationally) there are a number of factors (both mitigating and aggravating) that guides the sentencing rationale of the presiding authority. Some criminals, for example, can be recognized as being beyond rehabilitation, remorse, or reconciliation. I am, of course speaking of both national and international criminals. Contrary to “popular belief” (a concept I abhor), all people are not the same. They may be ‘created equal’, but they are not ‘equally created’.

I don’t want to leave the impression that I support the application of universal consistency. Quite the contrary, it is completely appropriate to relate to friends and enemies with the temperament with which they deserve. Remember the first logical fallacy, “All things being equal”… I'm sorry, but my position is that Justice is only blind when she's sleeping. Equal treatment under the law is bereft of compassion and neglects the human condition. When Justice is no longer doled out by humans, THEN we'll have equal treatment under the law...and won't that be fun...