It’s an age-old philosophical and theological question: Do the ends ever justify the means? We can all dream up examples of exceptional circumstances that would seem to suggest that the answer is yes. Stealing food to feed your hungry children is one example that readily comes to mind, for instance. But time and again, this principle has been extended to actions that affect the whole of society.
Today marks the 750th anniversary of the death of St. Thomas Aquinas on March 7, 1274, and is celebrated as his feast day by Catholics worldwide. St. Thomas - widely hailed as the Church’s greatest theological Doctor - wrestled with this question in his Summa Theologica, Question XVIII, Fourth Article: “Whether a Human Action is Good or Evil From its End?” But the part of his analysis that is perhaps most relevant to our present human condition is this:
“The good in view of which one acts is not always a true good; but sometimes it is a true good, sometimes an apparent good. And in the latter event, an evil action results from the end in view.”
The world was sold the lie that the COVID-19 “vaccines” were safe and effective. Adverse reactions, we were told, would be extremely rare. Proponents of the shots went even further, saying that even if a few are indeed harmed, the risk is worth the reward, which we were told would be millions (if not billions) of lives saved. The same logic was applied to mandates, resulting in countless people losing their livelihoods. In the name of “the greater good” of public health, we were told to accept blatant discrimination that in almost any other context would be thoroughly excoriated by the self-proclaimed “social justice warriors” who now have the biggest bullhorns of propaganda firmly in their grasps.
Safe and effective. Extremely rare. The greater good. Try telling that to Ernest Ramirez, whose 16 year-old son Ernesto Ramirez, Jr. collapsed and died just five days after receiving the Pfizer covid shot. Or to Allen and Taylor Martin, whose 18 year-old daughter Trista died of cardiac arrest just three months after receiving the same shot, and - the evidence suggests - just 12 days after receiving a second shot. Or to Tori White, whose baby daughter Naomi White died just 11 hours after birth, suffering complications linked to Tori receiving the shot during pregnancy, after she was mandated by her employer to get it. These three children had almost no risk of dying from COVID-19, but their deaths from the alleged COVID-19 “preventative” were all too certain. But this is what it looks like, folks, when the government decides that it knows what is best for you. This is what it looks like when the government decides that the ends justify the means. (For more on these heartbreaking stories, be sure to check out our film, Shot Dead).
And of course this extends to many other arenas as well, outside the realm of vaccine mandates but with eerie similarities in the language used to justify the abuses of power. In the name of “public safety”, we were told to embrace the Patriot Act after the events of September 11, 2001. Now we live in a veritable police state, that has in many ways gone largely unchecked (though with notable exceptions such as the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carpenter v. United States in 2018). And just this week, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the National Guard would now be stationed - for an unspecified (indefinite?) period of time - at the busiest New York subway stations, to search through passengers’ bags before they enter to board their trains. Once again, this measure was adopted, ostensibly, in the name of public safety, to stem the tide of rising criminal activity in the subway stations. The institution of these warrantless searches is permissible, we are told, because passengers must first give consent, and can refuse the search (though they will then be denied access to the public transportation). (We’re not so sure about that, but we may just have a new legal announcement for you in the coming days, so stay tuned.)
Benjamin Franklin once famously stated, “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” But here’s the thing - it doesn’t look like we have purchased even “a little temporary Safety.” Instead we have paid a heavy price to lose our most essential liberties. And that, it seems, is precisely the kind of evil that dear St. Thomas Aquinas warned us about over seven centuries ago.
Although that seemed like a good way to conclude this post, it struck me that it would be more fitting to end with a story that offers a ray of hope in this seemingly hopeless world. A Dominican friar named Brother Dominic of Caserta secretly witnessed St. Thomas Aquinas praying before a crucifix in the chapel one day, through tears. Brother Dominic reports that he suddenly heard the voice of Christ call out to Thomas from the crucifix: “You have written well of me, Thomas. What reward will you receive from me for your labor?” St. Thomas’s response was simple: Domine, non nisi Te—“Lord, nothing except you.” Even if all else falls away (and it will), remember that we always have God, and that He is all we really need, anyway.
Fitting ending. I love the St. Thomas tie in.
Ah yes; the hell fire and brimstone bully pulpeteers. I acknowledge the majority are well intended. But the minority, particularly those with nefarious goals, can and do unduly influence the naive. Pastors, Priests, etc. are an example, but Governments and major media conglomerations are today's evil empires.