And the Public Defender Ain't Givin a Fuck

Tyler Cowen:

At many blogs (Sullivan, Yglesias, DeLong, among others) you will find ongoing arguments for prosecuting the torturers who ran our government for a while. I am in agreement with the moral stance of these critics but I don't agree with their practical conclusions. I believe that a full investigation would lead the U.S. public to, ultimately, side with torture, side with the torturers, and side against the prosecutors. That's why we can't proceed and Obama probably understands that.

Sadly, I think this is right.  Even ignoring all the drama surrounding a prosecution, the costs associated with the chances of acquittal are enormous.  Allowing torture and then legally rectifying it is an order of magnitude more sinister than allowing torture and ceasing it.  Thusly, the refrain I've heard more and more often: ignoring the rule of law is upholding the rule of law, war is peace, torture is freedom.  The politicization of torture - the mere fact of 'debate,' the notion that before 2002, polling the question 'is torture a good thing' would reveal a party-identification split - is a healthy reminder of why, even though its possibly the only thing I've been trained to do, I never want to work in politics.  In the up-is-down world of parties without power, partisans cry out that the search for truth and accountability is 'partisan.'  Truth in partisan combat is a McGuffin.  It is only an excuse for recrimination, accusation and counter accusation.  It is in this realm that it is possible for a party supposedly committed to small government and individual liberty to defend a President who suspended the First and Fourth amendments and habeas corpus, broke U.S. statute and international treaty to obtain the lies and untruths needed to sell a war of choice, did away with judicial protections of the surveillance state and who abducted an American citizen on American soil and tortured him for years because the President personally deemed it necessary.  But a 10% raise on the top marginal tax rate is cause for armed revolution and secession.