Ends and Means

I've been forced to rethink my idea of ethics recently. It's easy enough to see a world of black and white, good and evil, us and them. Too easy, it seems of late. On the other hand, inaction is self-defeating. By forever weighing the merits and flaws of every decision, we accomplish nothing. What we need is balance, but where can it be found? What determines the rightness of a cause? In a world where we our knowledge of most situations is great enough that we can see the good and bad in every situation and "regime," how can we know what choices are ethical?

The answer burst into my mind fully formed. Though it seemed to be born of sheer inspiration, even a cursory examination of the answer reveals that it is an ancient truth. Alas, it seems to have been largely forgotten, buried in a storm of spin and rhetoric.

How many times have we been told that the ends do not justify the means?

Our actions are ultimately the only true way to judge our morality. Almost everyone has noble ideals, whether to feed the hungry, expand our frontiers, or seek higher truth. Saddam Hussein, the villain of the hour, abolished discrimination of women, prevented the persecution of minority religions, and turned a backward country into a modern powerhouse. He also tortured his enemies, cracked down mercilessly on the majority religion, and invaded a helpless neighboring country for "lateral drilling." He probably believed that the good he was doing outweighed the damage done.

America, for its part, supported this monster until his invasion proved too egregious for the most ruthless pragmatist. Then we bombed the living daylights out of an army consisting mostly of conscripts forced into battle at gunpoint, imposed crippling sanctions believed to be responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, continued bombing the country, and then, when the inspections we demanded to avert war showed signs of working, we pulled the plug on them and bombed them even more with precision missiles that sometimes hit the wrong nation. There are no official casualty estimates, partly as a propaganda ploy but also because Iraq is such a mess that there's just no real way to know how badly "liberation" has devastated it. Most of America is convinced that "we did the right thing." Of course, over 40% of the people in this country also believed that "some, most, or all" of the September 11th hijackers were Iraqis, and over 20% believe that we have found weapons of mass destruction (down from nearly a third, mercifully).

Of course, the phrase "the ends don't justify the means" is not sufficient by itself. Ends and means must support one another, and truly vital goals can justify some methods that might not otherwise be acceptable. It is nevertheless those methods that truly divide good and evil.

It is easy to increase the chances of success by using extreme methods. Corporate raiders can use insider trading, theft, and more unscrupulous methods to gain advantages over their rivals. Activists can use blackmail and violence to force politicians to rethink their positions. Powerful nations can bribe, threaten, and even conquer weaker countries to have their way. None of these methods were considered acceptable. Courage is needed to take the risk of playing or fighting fairly, and that sort of courage seems to be lacking in our time.

Rules are not always wise or just, and sometimes, they must be changed or broken. They exist, however, for a reason. Rules are an attempt to maximize fairness and prevent evil things from happening, particularly to good people. There are even rules for breaking rules. The more egregious the error, the greater the penalty. Armed robbery is usually punished more severely than petty theft. America has long used special agents to cause regime change, and while the results are often unpleasant, they rarely involve denying basic needs to millions or dropping thousands of bombs on a defenseless people.

For these actions, other countries (and some Americans) have sometimes scorned America as imperialistic. To be honest, the results have at times been appalling. Yet for decades, this subtle game of cloak and dagger has been the safety valve for those who felt the rules were unfair to them. Now the giant is unleashed, and the only rule it feels compelled to obey is the rule of guns: those with the most guns make the rules. Conquest and torture are considered acceptable, while negotiation and moderation are not. America is now the target of far more than mere scorn. I shudder to think what this says about my beloved land of the free.

All of which begs the question, what do we do now? We have protested our lungs, keyboards, and feet out, and been dismissed as a "focus group" by our Dear Leader. It is certainly hypocritical for some commentators to condemn activists for blocking traffic and hampering war profiteers while praising the bloody annihilation of their enemies, but these tactics are nevertheless largely counterproductive. Fortunately, we are not yet at the point of no return. Violence is not the necessary recourse, and to descend to the tactics of freedom's true enemies is to give them victory. By emulating them, we would become them.

Instead, we must ensure that our elected officials are held accountable for their actions. A powerful movement is emerging, one that is dedicated to victory in the next major election. We will protest, this movement says, with our votes. We will demand liberty and justice for all. We will insist that our hard-won rights be preserved. We will not accept cowards and bullies for leaders.

We have to do this. Leadership in the most powerful nation on earth, one supposedly dedicated to truth, justice, and freedom, requires extraordinary people. In this delicate time, our representatives must display courage, honor, subtlety, and wit, and so far, the forces that are running America have shown no sign of any such qualities. Making the right choices and choosing the right methods in this dangerous time require all those elements, however.

The time has come for us to lead our leaders by example. We must show courage, honor, subtlety, and wit. It is time to stand up to the bullying and the fear and say "no more." In short, it is time to reclaim our country rightly, in the greatest tradition of democracy, while we still can.

(/) Roland X
Focus (on) Bush