Politics

It's important to maintain a clear distinction between (a) people who actively advocate and implement evil policies and (b) people who, because they are ignorant or powerless, fail to stop the people in the first group from carrying out their evil plans.

I will concede that ignorance is a fault, and I would exhort everyone to open their eyes and understand what powerful people are doing in the world today.  But someone who is hoodwinked into supporting evil is not as guilty as someone who knows what he is doing and doesn't care.

On the other hand, being powerless is not a moral fault.  No one can be blamed for failing to prevent something that wasn't in his power to prevent.

I personally feel no responsibility for decisions made by our current government, be it federal, state or local. The simple fact is, they have never listened to me. I am one vote among thousands or millions, and have been on the losing side of almost every recent election. Even when most of the other voters have agreed with me, the powers that be have contrived to ignore us.

They've never asked for my advice, not really, only for my money and my obedience. Well, since they have men with clubs and guns, I'll give them my money like I would to any other mugger. And I'll probably knuckle under when they use that force (or threat of force) to get me to comply with their commands. But what I will not do is agree that they have a right to do these things.

I will not agree when they start immoral wars, or pass laws condoning torture and other violations of human dignity and rights. I will not agree when they meddle in the affairs of other countries. I will deny that they are doing these things as my representative, or in my name.

When they force me to give them money, I'm not responsible for what they do with it, they are. When they draft me into their army and send me to fight in some other country, I'm not responsible for their war, they are. When they steal elections, gerrymander districts, restrict ballot access, use their control of the media to limit coverage to establishment views, etc., I'm not responsible for the officeholders or the policies that result, they are.