But deliver us from evil...

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing - La Rochefoucauld

Why write about an apparently obscure issue like evil? Because I think it can provide a valuable insight into how we are reacting (or not) to the corruption and contempt for law that increasingly comes to characterize this administration. (The depth of their contempt for our possible reaction to their various misdeeds is all too apparent in the half-hearted nature of their lies. I mean, if they're going to lie, can't they at least try to put some effort into it?) The President's cartoonish railing about fighting "evil-doers" is essentially part of a larger effort in the extremist conservative movement to undermine our ability to recognize the subtlety and power of real evil and thus, much less successfully resist it when it's found in, say, some of our nation's top elected conservative officials.

I think we all feel pride that the commitment to fight evil is an important part of our national character. But why does mounting evidence suggest that we, as a nation, are so poorly equipped for the struggle?

Let's start with a definition: Evil is that immorality which intentionally causes suffering, pain, harm, or destruction. OK, everyone's probably on board so far and feels like a good guy. So, can we now expect that should evil confront us, widespread resistance will be swift and inevitable? Hell, in spite of scandal after scandal from this administration, we can barely manage widespread indignation! Why? Because we have neither the ability to reliably identify evil nor accurately evaluate the magnitude of its threat.

First, let's look at our entertainment, arguably the earliest and most powerful introduction to evil that we give children. How is evil generally portrayed? Typically, such icons as Darth Vader, Satan, Nazis, or serial killers share one thing in common: they are easily identified. Evil is ugly and has horns. Evil wears a black hat, a leering sneer, or at least a toothbrush mustache. And in the movies, evil even has its own musical score. The is understandable for children, since leaving a theater fearful that random strangers could be demonic serial killers could be unnecessarily traumatic. However, for adults, retained vestiges of this stereotype may be problematic because in the real world, evil is often smart, charming, attractive and rarely sports horns (wasn't Lucifer the most beautiful of angels?). Today it camouflages itself with bought opinion and grand pronouncements of piety, honesty, and virtue. Evil can cloak itself in respectability and patriotism. Evil flatters our insecurities and seduces us through empty promises of power. Above all, evil does not self-identify, evil deceives. So much so that most of those responsible for much of the world's pain probably, by necessity, deceive themselves most of all.

Unlike the movies, most evil in the real world is banal, meaning it is perpetrated everyday by people just like you and me. But if we are the good guys, how can we be capable of this? Evil, it seems, is an ever-present seed in our hearts, always ready to be nourished. "Evil is that immorality....” We all have a value system and we know what is right and wrong within that system. That is why the extreme right wing finds it so critical to invest in and constantly refine the methods and techniques of mass deception, so that when it is time to deceive us (and we are far easier to dupe than we might suspect) for their own ends (especially when those ends conflict with our moral values), our critical faculties will already be sufficiently weakened, and our will to act drowned in the inertia of our everyday lives.

What can we do? Scrupulously analyze our elected officials and especially ourselves for the telltale signs of moral corruption: actions and feelings that directly contradict stated values, especially rationalizations that moral ends can justify immoral means:

Followers of a god of love and nonviolence taking pleasure in the murder of abortion doctors, the execution of the condemned, or the power of weaponry.

Those "good decent people" who find it so easy to dislike or make fun of "the other", racial minorities, "illegals", the obese, the mentally retarded.

Liberals or conservatives who find themselves defending the indefensible in the interests of partisan advantage.

Why should we care? In part out of indignation against those desperate to keep us sidelined, quiet and submissive "good Germans". But mostly because there is today being waged a fierce and mostly invisible battle, where life and liberty, and perhaps humanity itself, hangs in the balance.