Dick Cheney, West Point, and Basic Values

Matthew Yglesias raises a point about this passage from Dick Cheney's West Point speech.

As Army officers on duty in the war on terror, you will now face enemies who oppose and despise everything you know to be right, every notion of upright conduct and character, and every belief you consider worth fighting for and living for. Capture one of these killers, and he'll be quick to demand the protections of the Geneva Convention and the Constitution of the United States. Yet when they wage attacks or take captives, their delicate sensibilities seem to fall away.

For Yglesias, our own "delicate sensibilities" about "basic principles of human rights and human dignity" are falling away "in Dick Cheney's America." But Yglesias is far too mild about Cheney's speech at West Point. It's monstrous that someone like Dick Cheney was even invited to speak at West Point let alone what he had to say about the Geneva Convention and the Constitution of the United States. Like Yglesias, Democratic politicians and writers on the left are generally content to point out against Cheney that our attachment to "basic principles of human rights and human dignity" is what makes us superior to "murderous fanatics" like al-Qaeda. But it should be clear that these "basic principles" are not accepted by Dick Cheney and that the principles of human rights and dignity are being looked on with increasing suspicion by the activist right in general. This refusal to accept these kinds of American values makes Dick Cheney an extremely inappropriate choice to speak at any kind of national ceremony.

Before discussing human rights or the Constitution, it should be emphasized that Cheney does not adhere to army values of" loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage." Cheney was a completely shameless draft dodger who has been reported as getting his wife Lynne pregnant so he could get another deferment as a father. His lack of any kind of sense of duty was magnified by the fact that he was also a strong supporter of the Vietnam War. As Vice-President, Dick Cheney told whopping lie after enormous whopping lie to promote and then defend the Iraq invasion. Cheney swore an oath to uphold the Constitution when he took office, but has shown a complete lack of integrity by doing everything in his power to undermine both the spirit and the letter of the Constitution. Dick Cheney is the last person who should be invited to speak at any gathering of those who believe that courage, duty, integrity, or loyalty to the U. S. Constitution are paramount values.

It should be clear that Cheney does not agree with "basic values of human rights and dignity," the system of checks and balances in the American Constitution, or the rule of law. For Cheney, all of these things are for "delicate sensibilities" which means that he sees them all as effeminate impediments to action. Instead, Cheney should be seen as someone who would be more comfortable in a military dictatorship or some other kind of authoritarian regime but had the misfortune of living in the United States at a time when democratic values were being solidified and extended. I wouldn't be surprised if Cheney was sympathetic with Harvey Mansfield's call for "one-man rule" or Newt Gingrich's advocacy of military tribunals for war opponents.

This is why Cheney's speaking at West Point is dangerous as well as inappropriate. One of the democratic traditions that Cheney would find to be a "delicate sensibility" is civilian control over the military. Given Dick Cheney's systematic resistance to democratic traditions as vice-president, one can't help but wonder if Cheney's speaking at a military institutions is an entirely safe thing for American democracy.