The views that Ronald Reagan not only advocated, but signed a treaty compelling the U.S. to adhere to, are ones that are now -- in the view of our dominant media narrative -- the hallmarks of The Hard Left: torture is never justified; there are "no exceptional circumstances" justifying it; it must be declared to be a serious criminal offense ; and -- most of all -- the U.S., as Ronald Regan put it, "is required either to prosecute torturers who are found in its territory or to extradite them to other countries for prosecution." Reagan's explicit view that the concept of "universal jurisdiction" permits signatory nations (such as Spain) to prosecute torturers from other countries (such as the U.S.) is now considered so fringe that it's almost impossible to find someone in mainstream American debates willing to advocate it.
What, I’m not mainstream?
Saint Ronald is being selectively followed just as they do their lord and master, Jesus Christ. I find nothing surprising here. And frankly, that’s the only sensible way to conduct your life – take what you believe is right and change what you don’t. Just don’t make people out to be gods and saints. And don’t invoke them as the final word on anything if you’re not willing to follow them to their final word.
It's literally true that if you say today verbatim what Ronald Reagan said in 1988 about torture and the need to prosecute those who do it, then you are immediately and by definition a rabid score-settler from the Hard Left who is unfit to be trusted with national security decisions.
Bingo. That’s the rub.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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