Ends Don't Justify the Means

The way we turn into 1984 is to allow the government to spy on its own people and to have the option of torturing its enemies. If enough people refuse to condone this behavior, sure, a few terrorist attacks may occur that could have been averted, but at least we will never have Big Brother. You may think that President Bush is too nice of a guy to allow that stuff to happen. Fine. But once that machinery is in place, some other tyrant down the road will expand it even further and use it for far less "Christian" ends. No, in order to prevent the totalitarian nightmare from coming true here in the land of liberty, the American people need to shake themselves from their stupor and say it is unacceptable for the government to officially torture people or spy on its own people. We mean it when we teach our children that the ends don’t justify the means. And maybe, just maybe, if we started living up to the ideals for which the USA ostensibly stands, foreigners would stop devoting their lives to killing Americans. - Bob Murphy