Cleanhandsitarianism

Cleanhandsitarianism, cleanhandsitarian

1. Our hands are not clean enough: “America does not have clean enough hands at home or in the past abroad to try to increase liberty by force abroad now, even by toppling a murderous aggressor.” [1]

2. Our hands should stay clean: no matter what genocide happens abroad, as long as we’re not involved, our hands a) are clean: it is not our responsibility if people are dying, even if we could stop it at no cost) and b) should stay clean: it’s not our responsibility to stop it, in particular if doing so would incur a risk of getting our hands dirty (see: WhiteGloveItarianism: “If a policy is likely to result in the death of even a single innocent, then that policy is immoral no matter how much it otherwise increases human liberty, or how much one attempts to avoid such deaths.”)