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<\/p>\nMichael Krieger
\nLiberty Blitzkrieg<\/p>\n
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I think the U.S. citizenry is being afflicted by a sort of mass insanity at the moment. There are no good outcomes if this continues. As a result, I feel compelled to provide a voice for those of us lost in the political wilderness. We must persevere and not be manipulated into the obvious and nefarious divide and conquer tactics being aggressively unleashed across the societal spectrum. If we lose our grounding and our fortitude, who will be left to speak for those of us who simply don\u2019t fit into any\u00a0of the currently\u00a0ascendant\u00a0political ideologies?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u2013 From February\u2019s\u00a0post:\u00a0Lost in the Political Wilderness<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Given\u00a0our increasingly hysterical, polarized and downright rabid\u00a0political environment, I think it\u2019s important for those of us who see\u00a0ourselves as relatively\u00a0conscious individuals to reflect upon\u00a0our principles and how they play a role in\u00a0our everyday lives. As such, today\u2019s piece will examine the concept of whether \u201cthe ends justify the means\u201d<\/em> when it comes to achieving ones\u00a0objectives, political or otherwise. It\u2019s an extraordinarily important philosophical exercise to undertake, particularly since the turbulent period we inhabit\u00a0is likely to get far more insane and divisive before it gets better.<\/p>\n I think many people will quickly answer the question \u201cdo the ends justify the means\u201d without putting enough thought into it. The question is meant to be considered when it comes to premeditated voluntary actions of questionable ethics taken with a defined objective in mind. It has nothing to do with matters of self-defense, or anything in that category. For example, if someone is coming at your family with an intent to inflict harm, the ethical decision might be\u00a0to harm the aggressor to protect your family despite the fact that harming another person in itself is an immoral act. Pretty much everyone can agree with\u00a0this, so it doesn\u2019t add anything to the argument of whether the ends justify the means.<\/p>\n That case is obvious. What about if you\u2019re walking down the street and you see someone come from behind an old lady, hit her on the head and then struggle with her on the ground in an attempt to take her purse.\u00a0You aren\u2019t being directly attacked, so should you intervene with\u00a0violence if necessary against the perpetrator to help an innocent bystander? Again, I think the right and ethical decision here is to step in to try to help the victim if possible.<\/p>\n In both these cases the negative \u201cmeans\u201d of violence you might be required to use\u00a0against violent aggressors\u00a0do indeed justify the ends \u2014 in the first instance\u00a0the protection of\u00a0your family, and in the second a vulnerable old lady. Given these examples, one might be led to believe that the ends can often justify the means, but I would argue that this only holds true in extreme examples such as the ones described above, and that for a principled person, the ends almost never justify the means.<\/strong><\/p>\n When people seriously consider\u00a0whether the ends of a particular action justify the means, it\u2019s almost never in relation to scenarios like the ones described above for two reasons. First,\u00a0those are extremely rare situations that many people (in the developed world at least) will only experience a few of times in the course of a lifetime, if that. On the other hand, many\u00a0of us face constant but often overlooked ethical dilemmas on a daily or weekly basis. We all face situations where we are\u00a0confronted with the choice to\u00a0do something we know is wrong, but perhaps do it anyway either for instant gratification or in the pursuit of a larger goal. This post is focused on the latter.<\/p>\n Many people involved in politics swear\u00a0by the notion that \u201cthe ends justify the means,\u201d which is typically the sign of a self-serving\u00a0actor attempting to justify questionable if not downright evil\u00a0action in order to get what he or she wants. While pursuit of \u201cthe greater good\u201d is often put up for public consumption, the driving force behind this sort of action is almost always personal gain of some sort. This is what most politicians do for a living, which is why they are justifiably hated by the general public.<\/p>\n