Bombing Kant’s test
AN EMINENT Prussian bachelor once argued that rational creatures are bound, by the very nature of reason, to act only according to rules of conduct one would affirm, when at one’s rational best, to equally guide everyone’s choices. This is not, it turns out, very useful as a day-to-day rule of thumb. It is, however, an excellent test for government policy in a multi-party democracy. If a policy seems advisable when one party is in power, but inadvisable when the other party is in power, then it is inadvisable, full stop. This is how we know that the Obama administration’s drone policy is, to put it mildly, inadvisable.
Cutting criticism and top-notch writing. What a pleasure.