Questions, Anyone?

There is an enormous value to the art of questioning. For instance, public opinion as measured by polling can be construed to say one thing when in actuality it is really expressing something totally different, depending on what and how questions are posed. To ask people whether or not they support raising taxes, in the abstract, will most likely elicit a strong negative response. However, asking them whether or not they support raising taxes to support our troops may very well elicit a totally different response.

Questioning is very important. I come from a generation that took questioning to a new level, most particularly its questioning of authority during the Vietnam War. Asking questions is a good, healthy, and emphatically democratic exercise. We should encourage it; as a government, as a society, and as parents. We should also strive to question ourselves regularly in order to keep our individual quirks and biases in check.

It seems to me that the act of questioning itself signifies an intellectual curiosity that keeps the mind sharp and our political leaders and institutions on their proverbial 'game'. It is a signal of maturity and confidence, it is a critically necessary component of leadership, and is required for a larger vision or statesmanship.

What is so refreshing about President Obama is his willingness, and indeed, eagerness to engage in questioning of conventional wisdom and his confidence to challenge the status quo. Both of these attributes are at the core of the change agenda he fostered during the campaign and heretofore embraced in his governance and leadership style. And it is also these attributes that buoy his high approval ratings.

What is so disturbing and twisted about the insurgency of Dick Cheney and his current Torture Tour '09, and now the apparent me-too insertion of George W. Bush into this sordid debate, is not whether or not questions were asked, but rather the intellectual depth of both the questions and the questioners. It is one thing to ask minions to render a legal opinion as to whether certain "enhanced interrogation techniques" are legally defensible, and it is quite another to question whether or not the answers satisfy a much larger and important need: namely, whether they actually made the nation safer.

The act of merely asking questions is not sufficient. The art of dissecting the answers and employing an intellectual calculus as to whether or not they meet the safety test requires an examination of a much more complicated and difficult set of variables. Merely satisfying preconceived notions does not rise to the level of leadership and statesmanship that is required to actually keep us safe, and this is where I find great fault with the previous Administration. At a time when intellectual curiosity, deep introspective soul-searching, and courage were at a premium, Bush/Cheney failed.

And it is irritating to see and hear the pathetic apologetic being played out in a blatantly political way that is intended to thwart an Administration that is making tremendous strides forward in correcting the misguided and dangerous mistakes that have put us at risk internationally. Dick and Dubya both seem to be staking their legacies and their justifications on the tragically laughable tenet of "Well, we asked and they told us it was okay!" This is sophomoric and in universally-accepted political jargon cover-your-ass logic.

Internationally, our moral turpitude, our historical democratic integrity, have been sacrificed in order to justify torture and to cover a preemptive attack on a regime we simply felt needed to be changed. And this is the real mess that Obama inherited.

So let there be no mistake, the next time you hear the ex-President or the ex-Vice-President stridently attempting to defend their intuitively-driven decisions, question why they are doing so. And never again allow either yourself or your government to simply ask questions, but demand that the answers are sufficiently scrutinized so as to allow for further questioning.

It is natural and dangerous for us to lighten up on our questioning of authority in times of crisis. However, this is the time when enhanced questioning techniques are needed the most. The same applies to all leaders, regardless of party, regardless of ideology. Any questions?

Comments

[thebigbike]

did you really mean to say we have sacrificed our "moral turpitude" as if that were a bad thing?

[lsimmens]

oops, you are right, that did not come out right, should have double checked the article, but hopefully you get the intention. Thanks for paying attention.