Published by JPLand on 24 Oct 2008 at 08:44 am
A Voting Question
Can I ask a hypothetical question? Sure I can, it’s my blog. Here’s a scenario for you and I’d like to hear your response and the basis for it.
Let’s pretend that there are two people running for an office. And let’s say, for the sake of this exercise, that you are a voter. After gathering all of the information available, you have compiled the following assessment:
Candidate #1: You agree with his/her stance on the foreign policy, economics, and other political issues. However, you find this candidate’s personal life to be morally reprehensible. Cheating on a spouse, unethical behavior while in office, etc.
Candidate #2: This person has been the moral pillar within his/her community. When tested, this person has always done what is right (morally speaking). However, you disagree with the candidate’s political stance on taxes, government programs, and almost every other major political issue.
In this purely hypothetical situation, when you stand in the voting booth, who do you vote for? Is your vote based on the person or the policies? (I know that most people would answer “both”, but this is my hypothetical situation and you can’t have both.)
DruU on 24 Oct 2008 at 10:02 am #
This is a tough question…
Although I do not agree with most of any single Candidate’s stance’s, I never have agreed on 100% of any candidate. If a Candidate has not made moral decisions in his/her personal life then why would I have any belief he/she would make moral decisions for the Country?
However, your question does have a flaw, and yes I will point it out to you. Most of the major political stances that I believe in are due to my moral belief system. Therefore, if I believe someone is making the moral decision then I am going to agree with that candidate… So my answer will be the Candidate that I agree on most political stances and makes thier decisions with the same moral belief that I have, so BOTH!!!
In the case you have posted I would be forced to think that Candidate 1 is unethical therefore would not vote for that person. Candidate 2 although tries to be moral, isn’t because they disagree with me, so I couldn’t vote for them…
My vote would go to JPLand
Heather on 24 Oct 2008 at 11:00 am #
I would vote for the person who I agreed with their political stances. While I’d prefer that my president have the same morals as me I’d prefer that he run the country in a way that I agree with more, after all that is his job. We’ve all made personal mistakes but fortunately mine and yours are smeared over the media because no one cares what we do. I don’t think a persons “moral” mistakes necessarily mean they can’t do a good job in their professional life, assuming the person recognizes they’ve made mistakes.
Empress Katie on 24 Oct 2008 at 10:27 pm #
The person with whom I shared political views. In my opinion, what’s done in private should stay private.
Mr. Rickie on 25 Oct 2008 at 6:32 am #
Hold my nose and vote for the policy. BTY, what a person does in private (lying) is a good indication of what he or she will do in public.