Not to suggest ANY disagreement in the purpose behind this statement, I’d just like to call attention to the inherent flaw in this hoary old adage.

The ends DO justify the means. ALWAYS.

But you don’t get to pick and choose among the ends as to which ones exist. You have to consider them — every single one of them — as a part of the results of the thing being done. How you weight them does provide some leeway for argument, but they key thing you need to grasp is that essential fact of the ends’ existence. By considering it you show that you’ve weighted it as a part of the results.

When testing a new drug, no, you don’t get to ignore the fact that 1 in 100 may die as a result of it. But neither do you get to ignore the flip-side, that 12 out of 100 won’t die as a result of it.

This special sort of “ends justify the means” is a typical big fat FAIL for liberal reasoning processes:

They look at people injured in Iraq, but ignore the people saved.

They look at those shot by guns, but ignore the people saved by simply waving one at a potential thug.

They look at those harmed by a new drug, but ignore those healed.

A rational person (i.e., 99.9999% of whom are NOT Lefties) recognizes that there is always a trade-off to be made:

As true Americans, we choose to let guilty men go free that innocents not suffer.

We allow some to fail so that many, many more might succeed.

We allow some to have “too much” in order that we not allow any one individual to decide “who has too much”. To allow some to say things they ought not to say in order that we not allow any one individual to decide who gets to say anything.

A trade-off.

No choices are made in a vacuum.

The ends DO justify the means, you just have to be aware of every single one of them, and be able to justify the total result, not just the ones you’ve decided are of interest to your purposes.

The US is going to get what it deserves.

just looked at the roadmap and Crikey is that ever long. sadly my full-time occupation prevents me from reading the really important stuff. thank goodness for blogs.

for the record i am only in my back half of the twenties (some commenter on here suggested I run for president which is at least 8 years before i am even eligible) and i spend every free waking hour reading blogs trying to unlearn all the crap i learned in gawd-awful public school (screwl).

that is why we need you bloggers to keep blogging!! read the stuff we can’t read cuz we don’t have time!!!

For any who are unaware, check out his A ROADMAP for AMERICA’S FUTURE