We’ve Long Since Lost the Moral High Ground

 “When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them,

‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’” 

New Testament, John 8:7

American foreign policy has long since blasted repression against Putin’s Russian political opponents, China’s human rights violations against Hong Kong dissidents and Muslim Uyghurs in Northwest China, Syria’s indiscriminate gassing and barrel-bombing of its own citizens (with Russian support) and generally any rogue or autocratic government that chooses to crush free speech and political/ religious beliefs. Yet we live in a nation that is no longer viewed by most of the rest of the world as the bastion of true democracy. 

Indeed, based on a form of government that allows gerrymandering, racial discrimination, voter suppression and disproportionate voting power (for example, half the US Senate is elected by less than one third of the voters), the prestigious UK journal, The Economist, has labeled the United States as a “flawed democracy,” one that cannot claim to be fairly representational. As we lambast other nations in their brutality, we get some pretty justifiable pushback. Like this tirade noted in the February 5th edition of Newsweek, in the earliest days of the Biden Administration, based on our firm stance against the Chinese repression noted above:

“The Chinese Communist Party said mass shootings, poverty rates and foreign wars are all evidence of U.S. ‘double standards’ on human rights violations, with Beijing's largest publication accusing American lawmakers of ‘concocting lies’ about China's Xinjiang Uyghur population… The state-controlled outlet [the People’s Daily] said the U.S. government is utilizing the ‘twisted logic of a robber acting like a cop’ as Washington lawmakers try to hide COVID-19 deaths and millions of civilian casualties caused by the U.S. military abroad…

“The People's Daily piece said the U.S. military has ‘laid to waste’ to countless countries and populations across the globe while American lawmakers have ignored domestic mass shootings and skyrocketing income inequality. In an apparent appeal to ordinary Americans, the outlet said it agrees with middle- and lower-class people who say the U.S. is only a ‘paradise for the rich.’” As blue on black killings in the US escalated, as the BLM movement exploded angrily across America, China and Russia also used these as continued examples of that “double standard.” 

Further, as hundreds of bills are presented in red states across the US, with many passed and which are effectively aimed at denying minority voters their continued levels of access to the polls, as hostile racial attitudes seem inalterably embedded in so much of our country’s local police, callous immigration policies caused by our own gun/drug culture, as anti-cancel culture/critical race theory legislation reinforces a false narrative that justifies white supremacy, and as judicial rulings from right-wing appointed judges, autocrats the world over point to our obvious hypocrisy. Russia, China, Syria, North Korea and Cuba join even our Western allies in this critical chorus. It is particularly galling to watch as the former home of Adolph Hitler and his genocide, Germany, which has freely admitted its crimes and begged for forgiveness, has replaced the United States as the global leader in championing human rights.

Our critics particularly enjoy ripping us apart because of our racially and ethnically biased but legally sanctioned behavior. As the July 16th Los Angeles Times notes: “A 2019 paper, for example, found that Black men were 2½ times more likely than white men to be killed by police. Additional investigations around the U.S. have found that Black residents suffer a disproportionate share of use-of-force incidents relative to their share of the population…

“Scientists who analyzed the body-camera footage from more than 100 police officers have found a subtle but clear pattern: During traffic stops, officers spoke to Black men in a less respectful and less friendly tone than they did to white men… This disparity in treatment is not only real but may also help to fuel a cycle of mistrust between police and the Black community, the researchers reported this week [mid-July] in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.”

We are still looking at the reality of children, brought to the United States as part of the illegal immigration of their parents, who face deportation from the only country they have ever known. Based on purported economic burdens imposed on red state plaintiffs (Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia), “a federal judge in Texas on Friday [7/16] ruled illegal an Obama-era program that prevents the deportation of thousands of them brought into the U.S. as children… U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen… declared the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program illegal, barring the government from approving any new applications but leaving the program intact for existing recipients…

“In Friday’s ruling, Hanen wrote that the states proved ‘the hardship that the continued operation of DACA has inflicted on them.’… He continued: ‘Furthermore, the government has no legitimate interest in the continuation of an illegally implemented program.’

“Biden has proposed legislation that would provide a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million people living in the U.S. without authorization… He also ordered agencies to make efforts to preserve DACA… Supporters of the program, including those who argued before Hanen to save it, have said a law passed by Congress is necessary to provide permanent relief. Hanen has said Congress must act if the U.S. wants to provide the protections in DACA to recipients commonly known as Dreamers.

“The House approved legislation in March creating a pathway toward citizenship for Dreamers, but the measure has been stalled in the Senate. Immigration advocates hope to include a provision opening that citizenship doorway in sweeping budget legislation Democrats want to approve this year, but it’s unclear whether that language will survive…

“The Trump administration announced it was ending the program in September 2017, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that the administration hadn’t ended the program properly, keeping it alive once more… Hanen had rejected Texas’ request in 2018 to stop the program through a preliminary injunction. But in a foreshadowing of his latest ruling, Hanen said in 2018 that he believed DACA as enacted was probably unconstitutional without congressional approval… Hanen ruled in 2015 that Obama could not expand DACA protections or institute a program shielding their parents.” Associated Press, July 17th. Given the complexion of supermajority Senate requirements to bring a floor vote, it is unlikely to get the 10 GOP votes required to bring the measure to a floor vote. America hypocrisy reigns supreme. Remember when we fought Hitler? What’s changed?

I’m Peter Dekom, and I wonder where a nation that pioneered civil rights and voter protection legislation, one that has touted that itself as a country of immigrants with a fierce commitment to protect justice and fairness around the world, went so terribly wrong.