The End Does Not Justify the Means

By Mary Souza, June 5, 2008
The President of Gonzaga University, Father Robert Spitzer, S.J., riveted the audience at lunch last Friday. The room of about 200 Rotarians was quickly captivated by his intense, entertaining speaking style and his fast-paced, heady delivery of the subject: Principles and Ethics.

Our culture today is in an ethics crisis, Fr. Spitzer proclaimed. But all is not lost. The problem can be solved by teaching our children, young adults, business and public leaders about the need for strong ethics. We have moved away from our basic principles, he said. We are now trying to rationalize; to weigh and measure how much harm vs. good will come from any particular decision. Rather, he said, we should return to the time-tested standard: The end does not justify the means.

With the exception of self-defense, when an evil must be committed to prevent a greater evil, the principle of the end does not justify the means holds true in all aspects of our lives. Fr. Spitzer talked of the Enron fiasco, explaining that only about 2% of the people involved in any of these schemes actually know they are doing wrong. The rest “go along” thinking the outcome will be positive and that is reason enough.

My mind was reeling. I know a person heavily connected with our local CdA power structure, who told me that the people on our local boards give a lot of their time and, here’s a direct quote: “They need to have the passion to continue to do what they do and incentives to continue. So if they help themselves or their friends once in awhile that is natural.” Those words were ringing in my ears as I listened to Fr. Spitzer talk about the slippery slope of corruption; about how small decisions that only seem a little bit wrong, but might have a good result, become accepted practice. Until eventually they undermine the foundation and the whole enterprise collapses.

I grew up in a family heavily schooled in the principle of the end does not justify the means. My favorite uncle was a Jesuit priest, like Fr. Spitzer, and was also a much-revered Philosophy professor. So the remarks of this President of Gonzaga certainly hit home with me. His words clarified my uneasiness about many of our local governmental issues of late. It is the process of the decisions that has created doubts, not the outcomes.

This has been my message all along, in my writings about local projects: It’s not the end result that I question, it’s how that end was obtained.

It’s not the Library that’s the problem. The Library is great. I voted for it. It’s the promises that no further tax dollars would be spent over and above the Bond, and that the old library would be sold to help pay for the new one. Those promises were broken. Large sums of additional tax money have been spent and the old library has yet to be on the market. And many other serious questions about the location, appraisal and fundraising were never answered.

It’s not the Kroc Center that’s the problem. It will be beautiful. The mayor promised that no taxpayer dollars would be used for this privately owned church and community center. Now, $4.5 million public dollars later, we are not done paying. And many questions remain about shifting public money to a private foundation and the quickly orchestrated no-bid contract for filling the pit.

It’s not LCDC that’s the problem. Urban Renewal can be a useful tool for attracting good jobs and cleaning up blighted areas. But when used improperly, it can take tax dollars away from basic public services and give them to powerful developers for increased profit levels, forcing Kootenai County residents to pay the difference.

And it’s not the Education Corridor that’s the problem. Expanding higher education is noble goal, one I stand ready to champion. But the shrouded manner in which NIC and city leaders are making this decision, causes great concern. The process appears backward. The decision to buy the property has already been made, according to more than one NIC Trustee. “It’s a done deal”, I was told. Yet the appraisal, the master plan, the financial impact study, traffic studies and safety evaluations have not been completed. Foregone taxes have been quickly grabbed and forever imbedded in NIC’s yearly budget just in case the State Legislature decides in January to change the law and eliminate all Foregone taxes. Yet the Trustees say they don’t know who will pay for construction of buildings or future expansions.

And the Ed. Corridor process does not adequately involve the public. All information given to citizens is general, conceptual, vague and controlled. It’s like an advertising brochure. Officials can rightly claim that all the specifics are coming…the studies, appraisals, plans…they’re all coming. But the decision has already been made. “It’s a done deal”.

Does that sound like open, responsible public procedure to you?

NIC leaders Priscilla Bell and Mic Armon were in the audience for Fr. Spitzer’s ethics speech at Rotary last Friday. So were people from LCDC, the City of CdA and other public representatives as well. Our state’s Manual on Government Ethics carries this important reminder: “…these laws set a minimum standard of behavior… Responsible and ethical public officials hold themselves to an even higher standard than mere compliance.”

Fr. Spitzer did an excellent job of describing the principles of that higher standard. He challenged us to change today’s popular situational ethics of measuring how much good or how much harm might be caused by our decisions. He implored us to stop equivocating and do the right thing. This learned, spiritual man called us to return to the clear, principled morals summed up in the dictum “the end does not justify the means”.

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