The Conscious Search for Morality

Friday, December 31, 2010

2011 should be the era of a conscious search for morality. In my mind, morality has to do with the civilized behavior between one party and another, whether that be between individuals, corporations, and nation states. In short, it is about doing no harm. 

The conscious search for morality starts with civilized discourse that conveys understanding of self, the separation of emotion from fact, understanding others, examining the impact of one on the other, and the practice of doubt. No-one knows everything. But more important is the understanding that part of that truth is pursuing what is not known. 

In the midst of a world-wide economic crisis, the US has voted in a Republican majority that has little if any morality and cannot see the impact on its various constituencies. That blindness will defeat them at the polls in 2012, and it will guarantee the re-election of President Obama. 

Though the Repubican and Tea Parties are determined to defeat the President, they are, nevertheless, forced to govern. That will require some sort of cooperation and negotiation with the President. But it will also require their examination of the impacts of their proposed legislation on everyone and everything. They may believe that citing relevant portions of the Constitution to substantiate proposed legislation is a kind of legal justification, but it is distant from issues of morality. Focusing on their proposed policies by referring to the matter of morality (do no harm)  as I have defined it is Obama's weapon against the Republicans' lack of governance and irresponsibility.  This sounds naive, but it is a better course of action than bullying and filibuster.

Health reform. The Republicans claim, and the Virginia Supreme Court has supported them, that the Federal government cannot force people to buy health insurance. The legislative debate that will undoubtedly ensue has to focus on the impact of reversing the health reform bill on the affected voters who stand to benefit having universal access to standard health care. It is a moral question, and one that the President can formulate in that way. The debate becomes less of a struggle for control between parties and more of a matter of "the right thing to do". 

If the President intends to engage the rest of the world, then his most potent weapon is the issue of morality. Let's take Israel and the Palestinians. The question to both is what is to be gained by the continuance of their policies and actions. It asks the question of what is the impact on the majority of people in both countries, if current policies regarding expansion of settlement on the West Bank and mutual recognition persist. The goal of peace and the fixing of borders is put off, until that discussion is undertaken. 

Afghanistan. Instead of focusing on military gains and progress in reducing government corruption, the question is what the impact on every concerned part and ordinary person is the persistence of corruption. What is an alternative policy of, say, promoting a viable economy and how it affects the same constituency?

This all may sound silly, but there seems to be no other successful way to resolve conflict. We have failed to reform Iraq and Afghanistan and to defeat terrorism. And now the focus should be on moral questions having to do with the positive future of both places. 

Morality has seemingly forever been the isolated province of religion. But, in my view, it is a practical way to confront both domestic and international relations.  

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The conscious search for morality starts with civilized discourse that conveys understanding of self