Machiavelli
To Machiavelli (1469-1527) is often
attributed the statement, “the good end justifies
the means”. I am not aware of him using that
phrase, even in Italian, but the idea is the thing.
It is for this reason that Machiavelli is on the catholic
Index (list of banned books). However,
The Prince remains a book that any
educated person should read if they intend to progress
in understanding society.
Here is an actual quote from Machiavelli:
“Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince
to have all the good qualities I have enumerated,
but it is very necessary to appear to have them.
And I shall dare to say this also, that to have
them and always to observe them is injurious, and
that to appear to have them is useful; to appear
merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright,
and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should
you require not to be so, you may be able and know
how to change to the opposite.
“And you have to understand this, that a
prince, especially a new one, cannot observe all
those things for which men are esteemed, being often
forced, in order to maintain the state, to act contrary
to fidelity, friendship, humanity, and religion.
Therefore it is necessary for him to have a mind
ready to turn itself accordingly as the winds and
variations of fortune force it, yet, as I have said
above, not to diverge from the good if he can avoid
doing so, but, if compelled, then to know how to
set about it.” [The Prince, chapter
18]
And another:
“[...] a prince wishing to keep his state
is very often forced to do evil [...]” [The
Prince, chapter 19]
Socialism
and Islam
As touched on above, a major problem christianist
societies have with Socialism and Islam is a conflict
over the notion of the individual; another is the
socialist/Islamic belief that “the end justifies
the means”. No libertarian can accept such a
dogma that puts the individual as a tool of the collective.
from Islamic
authoritarianism:
lying
[from islamreview.com] [1]
Is Iran hiding a nuclear weapon
program?
How is one to negotiate and form agreements with
people who justify lying?
The site quoted immediately before is Christianist.
However, the claims are not dissimilar from items
on Islam-oriented sites. For instance,
on
lying [from al-islam.org, three pages, heavily
referenced]. [1]
For further background on Socialist manipulation
, see emotion
versus reason.
Brandeis
“To declare that in the administration of
criminal law the end justifies the means - to declare
that the Government may commit crimes in order to
secure conviction of a private criminal - would
bring terrible retribution.”
Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941)
“[A member of the American Supreme Court
Justice, Brandeis was] a strong Liberal voice on
the court for the remainder of his tenure, playing
a major role in the creation of Franklin Roosevelt's
New Deal, and consistently supporting the causes
of free speech, the right to privacy, and the reform
of labor laws.”
More comments from Brandeis:
“We can either have democracy in this country
or we can have great wealth concentrated in the
hands of a few, but we can't have both.”
“No danger flowing from speech can be deemed
clear and present unless the incidence of the evil
apprehended is so imminent that it may befall before
there is an opportunity for full discussion. Only
an emergency can justify repression.”
“In the frank expression of
conflicting opinions lies the greatest promise of
wisdom in governmental action.”
Brandeis was from a secular Jewish background, and
later took an interest in zionism.
Bernanos
Georges Bernanos (1888-1948) was
a French catholic and a catholic writer:
“The first sign of corruption in a society
that is still alive is that the end justifies the
means.”
Also from Bernanos:
“A thought which does not result in an action
is nothing much, and an action which does not proceed
from a thought is nothing at all.”
Koestler
“Politics can be relatively fair in the breathing
spaces of history; at
its critical turning points there is no other rule
possible than the old
one, that the end justifies the means.”
Arthur Koestler (1905-1983)
Arthur Koestler was a Hungarian novelist, journalist,
and critic. In Berlin between 1931-1938, he was a
member of the Communist Party. He was also a propagator
of ‘parapsychology’! Koestler also has
other ‘strangenesses’ and adventures with
his life.
Trotsky
“The end may justify the means as long as
there is something that justifies the end.”
Leon Trotsky (1879-1940)
Leon Trotsky was a Russian Communist theorist and
agitator, and a leader in Russia's October Revolution
in 1917.
Lenin
“To speak the truth is a petit-bourgeois
habit, a luxury of worry-free and aimless people.
To lie, on the contrary, is often justified by the
lie’s aim.”
People and Portraits: A Tragic Cycle,
1966, by Georges (Yuri) Annenkov [1889-1974]
Rand
“The end does not justify the means. No
one's rights can be secured by the violation of
the rights of others.”
Ayn Rand (1905-82 )
Ayn Rand was a virulent anti-communist.
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