Thinking Ethics

Walk the talk

Samantha Powers resigned as an advisor to Obama's campaign after calling Hillary Clinton a "monster". If you missed the beginning, here is a description of the affair on www.timesonline.co.uk.

Saying you do not want to trash the opposition is not just a PR exercise, your behaviour needs to reflect your opinions, otherwise you lose all credibitliy. Obama is trying to stand for a different kind of politics, and he has more credibility amongst a certain segment of the US population than more seasoned politicians. He cannot afford to lose the higher moral ground, because that is what he is campaigning on (check out the videos "yes we can" etc...).  And in this sense I find it normal that Samantha resigned, as this is a values issue.  Integrity comes at a price.

Faith and politics

At what point does a Government minister's religious faith become an obstacle to their career? The UN Declaration on Human Rights and the European Convention both stress the right of an individual to hold and to practice their religious beliefs.  And yet, as an Italian nominee for the European Commission found last year, the fact of his Catholicism and specifically his belief that homosexuality was a sin meant that he did not get the job. A British minister, Ruth Kelly, is under similar scrutiny at the moment. She, too, is a practicing Roman Catholic and reporters have noticed her absence at various parliamentary votes on gay rights issues over the past few years. She is seeking to avoid their questions by taking refuge in the private nature of her beliefs.

Fair enough. But when those  beliefs are in conflict with government policy on equal rights the tension between private and public becomes an uncomfortable one. It is an interesting ethical dilemma to which there is no clear answer. We need people of faith in government. We also need a fair and just society. It would be as odd to discriminate against someone for their religious belief as their sexual orientation. Does the test become  public actions?

Standards for politicians

Entertaining article from Rushworth M. Kidder of the Institute for Global Ethics entitled "My next invention: the Ethimeter". It is sort of a radar gun to measure a person's integrity - very useful before voting. In the absence of said Ethimeter - he gives 6 standards to look for in a candidate: selflessness, shared values, transparency, trustfulness, honest reasoning and moral courage. It would be rather cool if some body would published a ranking of candidates or elected officials based on these criteria.