The Two Sides of Ethics

Despite the last American raids on Pakistan, which included the murder of civilians, most of the decisions that President Obama has made during his first days have been characterized by ethical choices. He had acknowledged the importance of this during his inauguration speech. This main comes to help rectify the disgraceful policies, which stained America’s reputation, and policy during the Bush administration. All of these policies have definitely created a burden on American conscience. However, Obama brings optimism and confidence to Americans and to the world, with a promise that he will be as fair as possible. He sticks to the values and principles of ethics, and avoids the duality of criteria. In addition, he plans to stay away from unethical policies that have been practiced under the name of “Combating Terrorism”.

It is obvious that Obama refuses to choose between American security and freedom. Therefore, he chose all of them together: security, freedom and the rule of law. Obama has focused on the cancellation of everything that is related to the violation of human rights, including Guantanamo detention, military trials, and all illegal methods of investigations. Furthermore, he has also aided the closing of C.I.A. detention centers outside the U.S., and spoken out against wire-tapping.

Moreover, Obama has expressed his support for the cancellation of all the corrupt political practices, has put severe restrictions on pressure groups, as well as self-interest inside Congress, and forbidden his staff from accepting presents from lobbying groups.

Furthermore, Obama has ordered all of the agencies in his administration to publish reports and records on their activities, his office included. Additionally, he cancelled the executive privileges that grant him the right to hide information, which confirms his belief that transparency and accountability are the sole methods to force the government to assume its responsibilities faithfully.

However, ethics has another side, which is related to religion, legitimacy and sin. In spite of the unethical policies adopted by Bush, he considers what the conservative evangelical church and the Catholic Church choose to prohibit. He cut federal funding on scientific research listed on the Church’s forbidden list, such as research on stem cells. He also imposed a ban on partial birth abortion.

Obama has already granted an American biotechnological company the right to experiment on stem cells. This opens a new field of treatment human and gives hope to millions of desperate people. In addition, he agreed to grant monetary aids to clinics that perform abortions. Will this weaken or strengthen his popularity with Americans and the world’s optimistic nations?