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I don't know where I first saw that quote or who originated it, but it seems to me that if this nation has any calling or purpose beyond simply protecting and encouraging the economic activity of its citizens, promoting justice has to be a serious candidate. The whole theme of the brighter half of our history has been one of promoting an ever-widening circle of justice and empowerment: racial minorities, women, and, soon, those with alternative sexual proclivities. An essential feature of justice is accountability and consequences. Letting Nazis off the hook at the end of World War II would not have sent a proper message to the rest of humanity as to what is right and acceptable. Likewise, pardoning the higher officers of the Bush Administration for their deliberate violations of the Constitution, their oaths of office, and international law will not, in the long run, serve either justice or any long range positive goals of our nation or the world.
