Means to the Ends

That’s what matters in today’s political environment. If the ends are OK, then whatever it takes to get it done is OK with voters. That’s power talking. That’s political genius speaking.

Or is it.

Over thousands of years mankind has discussed the issue: Do the ends justify the means?

The resounding answer is no! It is tempting, of course, to take short cuts and speed up the process. But cheating – and that’s what it is – robs us of our honor and nobleness. Once gone, it is almost impossible to regain. And if that does happen, most likely the people will be suspect forever.

Recall long-standing feuds. Long seething hatreds. Religious acrimony between sects. Review the history of eastern Europe. Note the massacres done in the name of religion in the Baltics, in Indonesia, in India, Africa, the Middle East and the Slovakian region. Horrible stories. Did the ends justify the means in all of those cases?

Did Hitler’s murder of 6 million Jews justify his ends?

We say no.

But here we are. The mirror does not lie. Only we who peer into the mirror know we are lying or cheating.

Doesn’t trump see that? Doesn’t his moral core understand that? Or does he lack the moral core?

Winning the Supreme Court Justice nomination by any means available has poisoned the white house, the Supreme Court, and the political party that perpetuated the big lie. The 'mob' wasn't the Democrats. They were the republicans behind this machined nomination. They knew of Dr. Ford long before the nomination was made public. How else could 65 names appear on a signed letter attesting to the nominee's character against her?

Now what? How will the court maintain public trust in the face of this? How will women face the fact their government chose to reduce sexual assault to that of minor status? A man’s word against a woman’s word.

America is better than this. It can rescue its own morality if we care enough. But do we?

Do we?

October 18, 2018