Ends, Means, Torture, and American Ideals

The ends do not justify the means. 
Ignoble means only demean otherwise noble ends --
and those who follow them.

Period. No ifs, ands, or buts. No matter what proponents of torture say. No matter if torture produces useful "intelligence," which even  experts say it doesn't, not even in the Hunt for Bin Laden.

The United States and its ideals used to be a beacon of freedom, human rights, and justice to the repressed and suffering of the world. In the past few decades, especially the latest one, those ideals have been demeaned big time, all but abandoned, and sacrificed, by both government as well as corporate America, on the altar of political expediency, military vengeance, and corporate economic advantage. And the beacon has been dimmed almost to extinction.

But, it's never too late for redemption. We can still polish up those tarnished ideals, rekindle the light, and hold our heads high in the world again as a beacon of hope and peace. We can do it. It's just a matter of choice,  and we have the personal and collective power to choose peace, that is, to choose a practice of right relationships with self, others, other groups, other life, Earth, and all that we are part of (thanks to the Earth Charter for this definition of peace).

We can do it if we so choose, starting with every one of us personally, in our own lives. How will we choose?