I have only written about torture once before here on Continuations as part of my mini review of Zero Dark Thirty. I am glad that after long delays we at least now have a summary of the Senate’s Torture Report. Together with Guantanamo Bay itself, which I have mentioned a few times, and the Drone program, we have done great harm to the causes of democracy and freedom, all in the name of defending them.

I don’t actually question the motives of the people who conceived of and conducted these programs. The road to hell is always paved with good intentions. Those don’t excuse what has happened and I would love to see consequences including prosecutions – although they are unlikely as we had previously redefined the laws to make most of these actions legal.

Which means that our outrage needs to be directed at reclaiming our democracy. And by that I not only mean a government of the people, by the people and for the people but one that embraces a utopian vision of the future that can guide our actions today. Because even though they fell short of what we now envision, the original foundations of the United States were quite utopian by the standards of the day.