Practicality and Ethics (Part 1-Libya)

I've given a lot of thought to what the United States has been up to lately. I don't like any of it. I don't like our national policies, I don't trust our leaders, and I'm ashamed of a large segment of the population. I'm going to leave our beloved representatives out of what I'm going to talk about. Those imbeciles are seven months late on coming up with a budget. If you acted that way in the private sector you would lose your job in a heartbeat. I think every single Congressman and Senator should be fired. Since I don't trust them to even wipe themselves properly I'm going to view the government as if I was in charge.

1. Involvement in Libya
A. Ethics (Pros)- These are fellow human beings who have requested our help. They are trying to create a new government where they won't be terrorized and mistreated. They're being slaughtered by a merciless, psychopathic dictator. Being in a position to help, it can be seen as our duty to step in do what we can to end the fight.
B. Ethics (Cons)- This is none of our business. The established government is putting down a bunch of insurrectionists. I don't know if we'll agree with what they want. Who are we to just barge into someone else's fight and try to make things turn out the way we want? There are a lot of other countries upset about this. How about they take care of it and leave us out of it. Besides, a lot of people don't want us over there and don't want our help. Maybe we should respect their wishes and let them take care of it. It's their country. Not ours. We are not the world's mom.
C. Practicality (Pros)- Gadhafi is a nut. Now is the perfect opportunity to support opposition. We can remove a self-proclaimed hater of America with barely any effort at all. No troops on the ground. Just a few well placed missiles. Libya also has oil. We happen to need oil. A friendly government selling us that oil would work out a whole lot better than Gadhafi. This will also give us a stronger foothold in a region that has been very unfriendly towards us. We've even been given permission by the Arab League. There couldn't be a better chance.
D. Practicality (Cons)- We are broke. We've already been bogged down in two very expensive conflicts for a decade. Our economy can't afford this fight. We've got a lot of problems at home that need our attention. Think of what that money could do for us. Instead we're shooting missiles at a country halfway around the world. The world already sees us as bullies and imperialists. Every time we take part in one of these conflicts that really doesn't concern us that view gets stronger in their eyes. Why give our enemies more to use against us? And who's to say the people we're replacing Gadhafi with won't be against us? Whoever is in charge will sell us oil. They have to. They need the money as much as we need the oil. It's better for us all around to do nothing.

Those are some of the arguments I've heard. I've expressed my own opinion rather strongly in a post I wrote not long ago, but to recap: Although I feel for the people of Libya who are trying to fight oppression my opinion, both ethically and practically, stands against any action in Libya. It's not our business. It's a civil war. Let them sort it out. We can't afford it and we don't belong there. We can't clean up the whole world's messes. We can't even clean up our own. Let's forget all this crap going on out there and concentrate on things at home.

I'll have to write a new post for the other stuff I want to talk about. This is getting really long already.