Ethics and the Political Party

During a public policy ethics class at Columbia, we listed several unethical offspring of the democracy. Of course there were the ones you would expect, like corruption, but one you might not expect was the very existence of political parties. Political parties are, by their nature, unethical, because of they remove one’s own believes and replace it with that of the party (and the party bureaucracy). Nothing could have demonstrated this more clearly than during the republican convention when an audience member asked “what is the most important moral issue in the county?”. A few candidates answered, either citing the right to life (for all people, not just those in the womb) or the war on terror. One candidate said the most pressing moral issue was singular the protection on unborn babies. He was immediate asked if he would support Rudy Giuliani (who is the only pro-choice candidate) if he was the republican nominee. The candidate tried to side-step the answer saying the republicans won’t nominate him, but in the end he said “I will support my party’s candidate”. So he would betray the most important moral issue in the country because his party told him so. He could have said, “If there is another pro-life candidate I will vote for them, if not I’d rather Mr. Giuliani to the Democrat’s choice”. At least I would have respected his dedication to something he believes in, but political parties have instilled a vast moral corruption in our national government. The democrats are no better, not one democrat has called for impeachment. Why? Because the Democratic Party has a strangle hold on its members. And some other ethnical issues, this one is impossible to solve. Political parties have more power than any individual person. They control wealth, contacts, and the media. I can’t blame them for existed, or for people who choose to associate themselves with a political party, but I draw the metaphysical line when someone goes against their own believes because their party has a different believe.

And here is a quote that I had to look up for you so I could transcribe it exactly. Former Governor and current Republican Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee said “I think the people of America are pretty smart. And the fact is, they know that if they have excessive taxation and a tax system that literally steps on their head, and they have a regulation system that makes it very difficult for our businesses to compete… “Literally steps on their head” LITERALLY! I am certainly not very particular when it comes to grammar, but this one really bothers. He used a word 100% wrong, in fact he should use a word that means the exact opposite of he said (i.e. metaphorically). His words literally made my head explode, literally!