Reply #10: Unfortunately, Sir.... [View All]

[The Magistrate]

Means must be suited to goals. This crops up oftener in one direction, where people get bent out of shape over something harsh or ruthless being done to achieve a result that mitigates a larger harm, crying 'the end cannot justify the means', but the real point to be understood is that there are means whose character simply ensures a particular goal cannot be achieved by them. Someone recently expressed the problem here by saying President Obama is approaching this like a community organizer leading a meeting to help a neighborhood decide whether it preferred a vacant facility be used as a wellness clinic or a child care center, but in dealing with the Congress, he is dealing with a neighborhood in which some would be happy with either of those things, and the rest are holding out for meth labs and a gun store. In such a situation, one side simply must be steam-rollered; there is no other way. The opposition here comes from two sources: first, people who are determined to wreck President Obama's administration, and second, people who are bought body and soul by the special interests who will lose profits if genuine reform is enacted into law. Neither of these groups are reachable by reasoned persuasion.

"There must be blood."