Americans in general, and American politicians in particular, are prone to defend their actions on the basis of their good intentions. It was our intention to bring democracy to Iraq. It has been our intention for decades to free Cuba from the grip of an authoritarian Communist leader. Religious leaders intend to reduce teen pregnancies by teaching abstinence and opposing sex education in schools. The No Child Left Behind legislation was intended to bring more accountability to public schools.
What is notable about each of these examples, and many more that I’m sure you can think of, is that despite the best of intentions they have thus far failed to produce the anticipated results, yet their supporters continue to follow and justify the same ineffectual policies because the “intentions” seem right.
In the real world, only results matter. A victim of AIDS is not mollified by the information that condom use, which might have prevented their infection, was not taught in their village because it was someone’s “intention” to avoid encouraging more sexual activity. The battered child who is finally murdered by their abusive parent will not be brought back to life by the explanation that it was social service’s “intention” to keep families together if at all possible.
People will make mistakes. We humans are fallible. Despite our best efforts, every nation makes policy mistakes – lots of them. But the proper response when a policy is tried and doesn’t work is to admit the mistake and learn from it, not to defend it and even continue to follow it on the basis of our “good intentions”.
The next time someone tries to defend their ineffective or even disastrous actions on the basis of their good intentions, we ought to boo them right off the stage. In real life, only results matter.
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