Last week, Arizona's own Sen. John McCain officially joined the Bush administration's campaign for torture, striking a deal for legislation that surrenders tremendous power to the executive branch in determining the treatment of prisoners of war.
Leaving the moral high ground in favor of planting snipers in trees, the U.S., with its war on terror, has now officially declared itself above the principles of justice it claims as its own.
Since Sept. 11, the United States has only had one choice to make: Will its legacy at the end of the 21st century be the democratic principles it stood for, or the illusion of its independence from the rest of the world?
For the last half century, the U.S. has been able to portray itself as a defender of democracy while maintaining its independence. However, at the core of these two principles is a fundamental paradox - being part of a democratic society requires giving up one's choices to the decisions of the majority.
Though the U.S. has carefully cultivated the illusion that these two principles could coexist in the international sphere, the illusion has gradually been crashing in around us. Economic globalization has made our economy more dependent than ever on the economies of other countries around the world.
Meanwhile, the peace and security of our nation has become increasingly dependent on developing strong international standards and partnerships with other countries.
Our leaders recognized this interdependence long ago. They signed the Geneva Conventions and established the United Nations and the World Bank. These institutions were to be the beginning of something new - the birth of worldwide democratic governance.
Long after U.S. economic power waned, their existence would be tribute to the continuing legacy of the U.S. experiment in freedom and equality through collective determination.
However, as the U.S. gained economic prowess over the last century, our leaders began to have second thoughts about giving up control of the new organizations. As a result, the institutions have never become truly democratic or legitimate. They have been maintained by an unspoken agreement among the nations around the world to follow the lead of the U.S., so long as the U.S. led in a way that was good for the leaders of other countries.
When the U.S. was attacked on Sept. 11, the era of grand power diplomacy ended. The terrorists signaled the emergence of a new power - transnational groups of disenfranchised individuals.
The actions of the U.S. suddenly became accountable not only to the prime ministers and diplomats of countries, but to any group of people angry enough to organize against them.
The U.S. is now faced with a choice. We can sacrifice our economic interests and power to create a genuine international democracy, or we can give up the idea of democracy and continue a foreign policy based on nothing but a belief in our own rule, as the ideals of American democracy wither away.
Despite our rhetoric to the contrary, with the passage of the recent legislation we have chosen to pursue power over our ideals.
Past the immorality of torture, the decision to flaunt the Geneva Conventions signals the end of our belief that good people working together can make better decisions than a small elite concerned with extending its own power.
A little over 200 years ago, the entire world thought the American experiment in democracy was doomed to fail. If we continue down our current path, we might finally prove them correct.
Taylor Jackson is a biology and society graduate student. Contact him at Taylor.Jackson@asu.edu.
