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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Do Not Impeach Obama

Why not?
Couple of things I still object to.
Killing of Bin Laden and
Military action against Libya

And they still seem unlawful to me

But....
After thinking about the philosophy of law, I had a little epiphany regarding these questions.

Mr. Obama claims to be doing what he thinks is right under the circumstances. He points out how each situation is unique. And that is true.
Every situation is unique.
In fact, all our abstractions and generalizations take us away from the truth in some very deep sense.
And yet, in order to function we must generalize, we must form concepts, we must deal with the abstract.
So,
law has many aspects
the letter of the law
and
equity
Equity concerns itself with those situations that the law does not cover well. It concerns situations where a strict application of the law would yield an unfair result.
And equity is valuable and necessary for us to live as reasonable men in this difficult and complicated world.
So,
Mr. Obama has been making equitable decisions. And in a way, these are lawful decisions. Because equity is a form of law, and ultimately it is the higher law.
But still, we should not habitually resort to equity. It should only be used rarely, when the law does not suffice, in emergency situations, when the normal process would take too long and lead to harm.

So,
Be careful when you step out of the law into equity. It is a risky path and can potentially lead to lawlessness.

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