Lord Voldemort, the nature of evil, and politics

[Tonks]

The nature of evil. Whatever one's religious believes or lack of,
most people try to live their lives as 'good' people. Whatever that
means. Most feel that there is good and evil in the world. They may
interpret it differently, but most would agree on what is truly evil.

I am reflecting on the Presidential election, now past. As I am
pondering I am sitting here wearing a t-shirt from a past HP
convention that says "in the darkest hour of the night, when fair is
foul and foul is fair, there is no good or evil"....
We HP fans here know who said that and that the rest of it goes "only
power and those too weak to use it".

I have learned more about politics this year than I ever wanted to
know. I know what my party has done, I know that the other side has
their own 'methods' as well. It is a long story. Cutting to the
chase, I talked to a good friend who is now retired, but once a
senior member of the party. He said there are two types of people in
the party. One group, usually the young, are the idealist, and the
other are those who know what must be done to win and are not afraid
to do it.

My basic response to the events of this election is that we need to
reform the process within the party. I was part of a rebel group that
tried to do that, but our goal and methods, while not as dirty, might
not have been pure either. Which leads me to wonder... can any of us
ever escape evil? Is it in fact, the ones who like LV are capable of
doing what is necessary, who are actually protecting the rest of us?
If my party did not do the things that it has done, there would be no
victory. I know that one of the 'rules' is that the ends justify the
means. Do they? And if this be true, who is the real hero? The one
who seeks to do only good and refuses to do evil? Or the one who does
evil, for the sake of good? Does good exist at all if evil does not
provide the place where it can be nurtured and supported?

I know I am rambling a bit here, as I am pondering these things. I
have been depressed, while those around me are rejoicing. I am
depressed because I understand the deeper meaning in the speech
about 'making the sacrifices that were necessary". I wonder if
selling ones soul is the same as splitting it. The people of this
country, every country, do not know or understand what is done
behinds the scenes, in the end for them. Or if not 'for them', at
least they benefit from it all the same. Can we ever rise above true
evil? Some of us have been taught that we are not to return evil for
evil. But as someone said to me not long ago, 'the reason that
Christianity continues to exist at all is that it has always been
separated from the government. If it were not it would have been
destroyed along with it's country." I had to admit that he was right.

Perhaps there can never be reform of our party and system. Perhaps LV
is right. Perhaps it is only those people who can split their souls
that can protect us. Perhaps we own them our gratitude rather than
our disdain. Just musing here... any thoughts??