My lawyerly sister sent me this link to Peter Keane's essay from "This I Believe."

Crucial quote: There is one key mechanism in our society that protects and maintains all of our freedoms. It is that we go by the rule that whenever someone does something that we condemn, no matter what it is, he still gets one person to speak up for him. Take away this protection and all our other democratic rights, which are so carefully woven into the constitutional design of our republic, become meaningless. Without resistance from lawyers who represent people being prosecuted, all freedom is ultimately lost, because it is the natural human tendency of those who wield power to abuse those without it.

Once you start searching through the other essay topics you'll really get lost in a sea of philosophical, psychological and moral debate. Which, when thinking about an image to pair with these tortured thoughts, reminded me of the ever controversial but beloved by me, Joel Peter Witkin. Pure evil genius? Freakishly diabolical master? I'll never forget the first time I saw his work. I was glamorized from afar. I walked closer and closer to the seductive deep brown and painterly images only to realize the bodies in the composition were corpses, I gasp. Then I bought the book.