God's Commission or Human Morals

I had to respond to a quote for PED. It's not pulitzer-worthy, but i still like it. And I like to share what I'm proud of.



“We Americans have no commission from God to police the world.” -- Millard Filmore

It's odd. I originally planned to write this essay agreeing with the above quote, chastising the American government for its past self-proclaimed righteousness and unrequested interventions in the past; I thought that's what I'd be writing up until this past minute. For some reason the argument sprang into mind, almost defensively, that no, we have no obligation by God (this coming from an agnostic), but we do have the oft-forgotten obligation my human decency.
Today's world is froth with argument over what's the “correct” moral code. Stem cells: kill to let live? Fundamentalism: do evil means justify personally-preferred ends? I Can't Believe: is it or is it not butter?! Most people (oh, yes, including myself) have the curse of instinct ingrained in their mind, which manifests itself as absolute certainty in oneself. People have to believe they're right. If any attempt is made to live life always questioning one's intuition, progress will grind to a halt. Unfortunately, this necessary mindset of the courageous Confidence has a sick, malicious brother: Arrogance. It's this Arrogance that creates the conflicts rising from difference in opinion.
However, even with the radically contradicting views that exist today, there is a general need for moral conduct, which permeates all areas. The good news is, it's inherent. Even science backs up the intuitive caring for the general good of the group; just ask Scientific American Dec. 06. There are situations in which action is necessary, even the worst of actions, to right a wrong. These situations are rare: the Holocaust, bio-terrorism, destruction of organized religion (oh wait, that's not a uniformly shared opinion... ), but they do exist. The difficulty is recognizing them as early as possible, so that immediate action can be taken. If we knew about the Holocaust earlier, maybe we would have acted sooner.
Regrettably, recognition of such events comes as a sloth. Even now we face such an event that we will be judged by for generations to come and we do nothing. Four hundred thousand dead isn't enough, I suppose, to warrant action, only a spot on the “To Watch” list, which in itself is a cruel, pathetic joke.
I am by no means defending all of America's actions. Given the opportunity, I'd probably controvert the majority of what America's done; most of it was done out of ignorance, I might add. But I am saying that in certain circumstances, such a God would sign a statement of power to be given to the U.S. to do what is necessary (although we wouldn't ask, we'd act before and assume it's in-transit; preemptive action, yano?).
Sometimes one source policing the world, however unjustified, can prevent such atrocities from ever happening in the first place. Do the ends justify the means? Do they ever? It's not a matter of my opinion or yours, or even the United States', it's a matter of faith in humanity. And I mention it as I did in my previous essay, let's hope my naivety stays intact for a while.