As the political and social tides in our nation change, as we emerge from a period of abuses of power, of lies and deceit, of both means and ends becoming corrupted and unrecognizable, there is a great need for justice to be done. Not the justice of the secret tribunal and the back alley, not retribution and revenge against those who have committed acts that so degrade our society, but rather, true justice, in the light of day, before our own society and people and before the world.
Follow me below the fold for some thoughts on true justice, and why right now, for the good of our society, of the rule of law and of our nation, it is so critical that it be administered.
Justice is one of those concepts that everyone has an idea about, but is extremely hard to nail down precisely. This is in part because of the differences in the premises of those who would define it, in differences between what people define as right and wrong, the differences in opinion as to what should be an appropriate response to actions that are viewed as unjust. However, these differences all stem from a commonly held belief that justice is something that is done to someone who has committed an unjust act for which a penalty must be applied. This is reflected in the varied and wide ranging attempts to define the word justice.
I would propose that true justice is much more than retribution for an unjust act; that true justice is also the the process by which both the victim and society is healed of the pain caused by an unjust act. I would further propose that real justice is the reminder that all in a society are subject to the rule of law, and both deserving of justice when wronged and subject to justice when in the wrong.
For this reason, I feel that it is critically important that our nation and society work for justice in the case of all the injustices committed by and during the Bush administration. If we do not, I feel it will damage our concept of justice, that it will diminish the rule of law, and that we will never fully heal and be able to truly move beyond the wrongs committed.
The years under the Bush administration have seen a multitude of unjust acts. From Guantanamo Bay to the betrayal of the public trust and positions of authority, power and trust by the administration; from the looting of the American economy while those who have assumed authority over (and therefore responsibility for) our economy have reaped exorbitant wealth to the crimes of deceit that thrust us into the self-destructive war we are now mired in in Iraq, the list of injustices committed in the name of the American people – and often to the American people – is multitude.
I believe that we must do more than to remedy the situations that we as a nation find ourselves in. Those who committed injustices, those who broke the law and corrupted the means to the extent that the original ends became impossible must be held accountable. This is not a cry for revenge; rather, it is a call for justice in its purest form.
It is important here to again be aware of the difference between retribution and revenge, and justice. If an individual tracks down a thief and beats him in a dark alley, it is retribution. It may even be a somewhat just beating, but it is not justice. It does not remind society of the rule of law, it does not serve as a public lesson, there is no acknowledgment by society that the punishment fits the crime, and finally, there are no constraints on the punishment administered. Had this hypothetical thief been put to trial, all of these ends would have been met, as would have been one other criteria of true justice: that the penalty not be administered by the victim, but rather, by society as a whole. Regardless of how just an act committed in an alley or behind close doors would have been viewed by society as a whole had it been done openly, it is still not true justice by virtue of the fact that it was not committed openly. For justice to be true justice, it must be committed in the light and before all.
A society may be able to function for a time without true justice. Arbitrary and absolute power may at times act justly. Secret tribunals may come to just conclusions. Vigilante acts might be judged as just when they are known. But this is not true justice. It does not fulfill one of the fundamental roles of justice in a society, and as a consequence, the belief in justice, in the rule of law, by a society as a whole is degraded, and thereby, the society and the members of that society are diminished.
Justice is an ideal that is probably impossible to truly reach in full. But our society has become so used to cutting deals, to attempting to move on and repair the damage caused by the unjust in power, that we have forgotten the catharsis that justice can bring. Without justice applied evenly to both the high and the low, we begin to believe that there is no justice available for those without power; we begin to feel that the rule of law, which should be the rules which attempt to define for a society what is just, does not apply evenly to all. This diminishes our society, our nation, our ideals, our rule of law, and ourselves.
For this reason, I believe that it is critical that we as a society and a people push for justice now that the tides of politics have changed to the point where it may be possible. The prisoners in Guantanamo need to be tried fairly and publicly, that we and the world may see justice done. Those prisoners who are guilty of crimes should suffer the penalties allowed; those who are not need to be exonerated. By the same token, those who committed and authorized atrocities in places like Guantanamo need to face justice as well. President elect Obama has promised to look into the abuses of the Bush administration; it is my sincere hope that when the individuals responsible for those abuses are identified that those individuals also be brought to justice in the full light of day, before our nation and before the world. It may well be a painful process, but the health and inherent rewards that such a process would bring far exceed the potential damage that might be caused to the ideals of our nation and society by shining the light of justice on what has transpired during the last eight years.