The danger of the infection of moral supremacy is the correlation that the ends justify the means. This is why, in my opinion, dictatorships so often come from the extreme left.
This also why market oriented states tend to be more free; markets tend to ignore those who think they know better ‘what ought to be’.
Moral supremacists tend to paint every problem with moral colors. Thus those who think ‘global warming’ is a moral issue instead of a scientific issue will ignore contradictory evidence, and even manipulate reports in the name of a moral purpose. The arguments become ‘religious’ and political instead of scientific and objective.
Politicians on a moral crusade self justify campaign fraud and questionable policies. Huey Long and Eva Peron committed common crimes all in the name of the ‘little people.’
Personally I think those who commit fraud out of pure greed do far less damage than those who push questionable policies and campaigns out of a supposedly higher moral purpose. Even Bernie Madoff, as despicable as he is, did less damage than those in Congress who turned a blind eye and gave cover to the frauds at Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae after all served the higher moral purpose of helping voters get into homes they could not afford.
The disease of moral supremacy is not restricted to the left; it also infected Nixon and his cabinet. But it may explain the rash of political corruption we are now witnessing.
The problem is that most of those claiming to have the answer don’t even know the right question.
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