jaunthie | Recommended reading for today

Sometimes I think that as a country, we have forgotten that the ends, however theoretically worthy or desirable, never justify the means, and that thinking so leads to things like mandatory sterilization in China, the horrors of the Third Reich, and a long list of so-ons. Then I stumble across an essay or article that reminds me that no, there are still those out there who recognize that we cannot sacrifice the ideals of liberty and equality in the pursuit of so-called security. We have to live up to our ideals in order to attain them; we can never attain them by betraying them. From TPMCafe:

"The law is the safeguard of liberty, but only as long as it is not twisted beyond all recognition. After all, tyrants have their lawyers just as democracies do. Our founders looked to law as constraint, not as license; as a check on power, not authorization. The difference is a matter of honor, of values, of identity itself."

You can read all of Anne-Marie's excellent essay here. Please do.