Michael Ignatieff

What is the first thing you think of when u hear the word liberal, most people think of liberty, equality, and fair elections. The word liberal comes from the Latin liberalis, "which means of freedom. Here in this great land that stretches from coast to coast (Canada) we have a political party which fights (non-violently) for control of the country called the Liberals. Recently a man by the name of Michael Ignatieff became head of this party.

Michael Ignatieff is not an ordinary liberal, he is what we call a liberal interventionist. Upon reading Michael Cotey Morgan article Michael Ignatieff Idealism and the Challenge of the "lesser evil" we can understand the idea of liberal interventionism. In this article we learn that interventionism override ethics in favor of moral responsibility. To sum it up into one sentence, to intervene on infringements of human rights around the world we must break rules of sovereignty and "trespass" on another land. This often means war and Ignatieff is OK with this. He believes wars and armed conflict are justified because of the end result. He also brings up the idea of a lesser evil, that the harm caused by a war is less than allowing human atrocities to continue unnoticed.

I believe that this is a good way to think almost a vigilante justice idea. This is almost a mix of realism and idealism but at its core its about the lesser evil and is idealist. What is better for the world? Just because a crime against humanity is outside our domain does not mean it should go unnoticed. Maybe you would not stop an old man being beat up at your neighbors house because you could get seriously hurt but if you were a supertank country and could avoid serious harm you would, im not sure where i heard this line but it applies here "with great power comes great responsibility". But Canada is not a country with endless manpower , we should fous our forces in places where our presence will have the most usefulness and positive result. If every country adopted this policy and did what they could perhaps the world would be way better off.

Props to IGNATIEFF