aders to make responsible and moral choices when creating policy. Fundamentally, responsibility for firing missiles at targets in Serbia lays in the hands of those who will and can make the final decision to fire the missile and sacrifice lives. Just as we can not kill civilians in Serbia based on the actions of Slobodan Milosevic, a man, as an individual, holds little accountability for the decisions of individual human beings in power, especially if he did not elect those individuals into power. Those in power are human beings and influenced by many variables and, accordingly, they will make decisions as such. Ultimately, those who are morally responsible for the actions of government, are those in power-- the actual individual or group who must make a decision. As they exercise their freewill in their actions and decisions, they too must bear the responsibility for their actions. It is not so much that the government should act morally but that the individuals and groups with the power to act, should act morally. Still, we must wonder if a government has the same duty to act morally as would an individual. Perhaps the only manner in which governments and institutions are capable of acting is capable through cost/benefit analysis. Is a government capable of analyzing the situation that of the Indian execution in Bernard Williams essay, “Utilitarianism and Integrity”? While a single man may not be responsible for the actions of his government, he still does have a moral obligation to act morally in spite of the consequences. Man is accountable for his action or inaction in face of immoral government action. Even if he is not successful in acting out of moral duty, a man cannot be accused of being immoral because of failure. Blame must be laid at the door of those who did knowingly, and out of free will, act immorally. Inaction against evil is evil. Even if a man has no prospect of changing the government's ...
