Three Republican debates have produced three occasions of extraordinary moral callousness. We are witnessing a kind of theatre of cruelty, where policies that kill and/or demean certain people are celebrated in a widely-televised national forum. Cruelty is celebrated, and thus learned. And our nation becomes ever more coarse and harsh as a result.
In the GOP tea party debate, the audience cheered when a question was asked whether society should just let an uninsured man in a coma die. “Yeah!” several members of the crowd yelled out. In another GOP debate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry was asked about having authorized 234 executions, more than any other governor in modern U.S. history. The crowd cheered this accomplishment of death and Perry said, “I’ve never struggled with that at all,” referring to execution as “the ultimate justice.”
And in the most recent GOP debate, one question, posted to YouTube, came from a U.S. Army soldier serving in Iraq. Stephen Hill, donning a gray tee- shirt emblazoned with the word “ARMY” on the front, asked Rick Santorum if he would try to “circumvent the progress” that has been made in allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly, effectively reinstating Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The audience booed him.
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Complete article at Washington Post : http://wapo.st/nhWBn1
