Virtuous life is straightforward; the devil is in the details.

“It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is.”
 — President Bill Clinton

Not only is President Clinton's famous remark funny, but it is also profound. What it says to me is (and, yes, the latter word is subject to interpretation): Life may be straightforward in principle, but it is not a simple matter of multiple choice. As Big Al used to say,

“Things should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
 — Albert Einstein

When Egypt attacked Israel in 1973 on the holiest day of the year in the Jewish calendar, the IDF did not feel compelled to wait till sundown to fight back. The Commandment to keep the Sabbath holy must not be interpreted to mean "For thou art a stupid f*ck."

Our spiritual forefathers who "brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" did not, I am convinced, intend for this nation, the best the world has ever produced, to become a nation of stupid f*cks.

The spiritual, moral, and legal infrastructure of the United States is documented in our American Testament: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, in which Lincoln defended the Declaration and Constitution. This great Nation, the unique combination of brilliant antecedents, heroic defenders, and a preponderence of well-meaning, generous, and common-sensical citizenry, must not be allowed to perish from an earth filled with human detritus and barbarism.

Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, ..., Lincoln, ... did not dedicate their lives to a nation that would risk its continued existence by allowing the human detritus of the uncivilized, as well as the semi-civilized European, world to dictate to us the rules of engagement. We have not, will not, and need not engage in the barbaric tactics favored by our adversaries. But we must not succumb to the mindless self-destructive rage of the stupid f*cks among us.

The waterboarding of known terrorists is neither akin to premeditated murder of thousands of civilians, nor is it morally equivalent to beheading individuals with dull knives. Life is not a simple-minded exercise in multiple-choice at Disney World for the purpose of canonization. Life in the real world is a risk/reward analysis of prudent measures for the purpose of survival.

Post #738 Virtuous life is straightforward; the devil is in the details.