Paternal Instincts

I'm a parent. I have a little girl, she's five. And in my house, there are some rules. No eating in Mom and Dad's room. Keep your things out of the front room, or at least take them back to your room when Mom and Dad say so. Bed time is 10:00 PM. Don't jump up and down late at night. And follow directions.

Do I think I know what's best for my little girl? You better believe it. At least, I know better than she does. When she gets older, she'll make more decisions, and she'll get to determine her own course. Today, it's "No, we're not going to rent that movie", "No, you can't have a treat at the store today", "No dating until you're at least sixteen". In the future, she'll be able to more choices herself. But the general rules will still be there. "Don't lie." "Be nice to the kitty."

Now, some people may say that I'm an oppressive father. I fuss a lot. Infractions of rules mean someone gets sent to her room for a while. Who am I to say what's right? Who am I to say what she should and shouldn't be doing? I'm her father.

In a comment below, someone said it seemed paternalistic to assume that the Iraqis would be better off under a democratic regime than they would have been under their prior management. Maybe to some it does, but that implies that there is no standard to judge by. It would be "paternalistic" (a bad term in a non-family relationship) and arrogant of me to presume that the Iraqis would be better off than they already were. Who am I to judge that? Right? In a world of moral relativity, that would be true.

I don't live in that world.

I believe that there are moral absolutes. That there is right and wrong independent of what we think about it. Rationalizing our behavior doesn't change the underlying "rightness" or "wrongness" of our actions. In the words of the Tick, evil is just plain bad. Is there evil in this world? Yes. But there is also good. So, from where I stand, here in the world of moral absolutes, democracy is better than dictatorship. Freedom is better than oppression. Lifting Saddam's heel off the neck of the Iraqi people is a good thing, regardless of who put that heel there in the first place.

Maybe we did support Saddam back in the day. That doesn't mean that we can't correct a mistake. If anything, it increases our responsibility to fix the problem. The majority of Iraqis feel that life will be better a year from today than it is right now. Five years ago, I sincerely doubt that would have been the case. A majority of Iraqis (albeit a narrow one) supports the invasion that removed Saddam, and gave them a chance to choose their own fate. Let's help them get there.