(September 17, 2020 at 5:43 pm)DeistPaladin Wrote: Power = Moral Responsibility
It's a simple truism. You are not morally responsible for what is outside your control. You are morally responsible for what is under your control. I'm sure we can all agree.
And so we demolish another Purity Brigade lie, "Choosing the lesser evil is still choosing evil."
FALSE!
In fact, the opposite is true. You have a moral obligation to choose the lesser evil if that's your only option.
In the upcoming Presidential Election (as well as the one that happened four years ago), you are (were) given a binary choice. This binary choice was prepared for you, outside your control. Even if you voted for another candidate in the primary, you were overruled by other voters and so the decision was removed from your control. You can't help it (and thus are not morally responsible) if the only alternative to a greater evil was a lesser evil.
The only power you have (or had) was to choose between the two options you were given. You have a moral oblation in that situation to take the better of the two options, however bad it may be.
It's called "playing the hand you're dealt". You don't get to play with the cards you wish for. You only get to choose the options you have.
On the other hand, if you shirk your responsibility and allow the greater evil to prevail, your moral culpability can be measured by the following formula:
Moral Culpability = X - Y
Where X = the greater evil and Y = the lesser evil
So in a situation where you are forced to choose between candidate "X" and "Y", let's say you reasonably expect X to be three times as bad as Y. To express that in numbers for a moment, X is a "9" on the badness scale while Y is a "3".
If you allow X to prevail by your inaction, whether by staying home or throwing away your vote on a nonviable pretend 3rd option, your moral culpability is 6 of the 9 badness that ensues. You couldn't help 3 of it because Y would have done that. You are responsible for the 6 of it that could have been averted.
If you vote for Y and Y wins the election, then your actions by the same formula helped to avert 6 of the 9 badness that candidate X would have wrought. Voting the lesser evil is thus a benefit to society and is thereby the morally correct course of action.
You have a moral obligation to choose the lesser evil if that's your only alternative to a greater evil.
If anyone values a pluralistic society, while no society is perfect, then purity tests in the face of a crisis that can topple that free society, is dangerous. Long term matters, and different factions of the same side cannot afford purity tests in a crisis.
I wanted Bernie to win the nomination last time, but I voted for Hillary in the general. And Biden was not my first choice. I wanted Pete, then Harris or Warren. But knowing the damage that Trump has been doing since day one, and that he wants to be an authoritarian, I am going to walk over broken glass, hot coals, and fire ants to vote.
The minority supporters of both Hillary and Bernie camps, NOT THE CANDIDATES themselves, but just enough "all or nothing" people cost us the election.
I was screaming at both camps leading up to 16, that one person, Hillary or Bernie, does not constitute an instant cure all on the first day. We have a 3 branch system of separate but equal branches, and it does no good to lose out of a bullshit chase for a utopia if you lose. Strategy matters, picking your battles and knowing when and when not to have them matter.
Voters cannot pin their hopes on an individual. Obama didn't run and win selling himself as the sole person to solve everyone's problems. He won because he knew it took everyone, and all branches. He didn't sell himself as a cure, but as an advocate.
I am not voting against Trump alone. I am voting for Biden because Democrats represent to me, the defense of workers, and affordable living/health care. Biden cant do it alone, even if he wins. Obama didn't win because of himself. Obama won because we helped him. But even then Obama did not get everything he wanted. But he damned sure stopped the bleeding.
I agree, "lesser of the two evils" is a bullshit argument in an imperfect world. What choice do you have? Chasing utopias are what lead to dictators and theocracies.
