Tuesday, January 19, 2010

MorganHillTimes.com | No, the ends do not justify the means


MorganHillTimes.com | No, the ends do not justify the means:

"The ends don't justify the means. That principle states that it's unacceptable to do bad things even if they're intended to achieve what you regard as good goals. This principle was emphasized at the fundamentalist Christian schools and churches I attended in my youth, and it's an important guideline, no matter your religious persuasion.

If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to amend California's constitution to require the state to spend more on higher education than prisons ever makes it to a ballot, I hope Californians remember this principle.

I support Schwarzenegger's goal of spending more on the state's once-envied UC and CSU systems than prisons. As the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, 'The state spent $9.3 billion on prisons last year and only $6.5 billion on higher education. It's hard to look at numbers like those and imagine California as a state with a bright future.'"