authority and democracy the ethics of voting. questions about voting: should everyone have a right...
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Authority and DemocracyThe Ethics of Voting
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Questions about voting:
• Should everyone have a right to vote?
• Do we have a duty to vote?
• Do we have a duty not to vote (under certain circumstances)?
• When we vote, how should we vote?
• May we appeal to our religious beliefs in deciding how to vote?
• May we vote following our personal interest, or should we always vote
for the common goods?
• Is it permissible to buy, sell or tradte votes?
• Can we be compelled to vote? (Australia)
• Should ballots be secret or public?
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What happens when we vote?
When we vote we are collectively responsible for certain outcomes.
These outcomes can be very significant:
• Resources are devoted to certain programs rather than others (e.g.
instead of alleviating poverty, ill-conceived economic policies are
enacted)
• Certain moral rights are restricted (e.g. some people might not be able
to get married, or to have their loved one residing in the same country)
• Serious injustice is perpetrated (e.g. unjust wars are fought, ghettoes
are created, xenophobic policies are enacted)
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Why voting is morally significant
Are not we responsible for these outcomes?
With our vote we influence the government. +The government is responsible for producing those outcomes.
NB: our individual vote typically does not count much
But collectively, our votes can have devastating effects
There are moral obligations about how we should act collectively.
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Jason Brennan
What should we do? We have no duty to vote. But if we vote, we must vote well.
“Voting well” = voting on the basis of good evidence for what is most likely to promote the
common good.
This requires:
- Knowledge (of facts, theories etc.)
- Rationality
- Motivation (to disregard narrow self-interest)
If we lack one of these 3 we should not vote.
Demanding? No, because there is an easy way to fulfil our duty: not voting.
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Bad voters vs good voters
Why are people so bad at voting?
• Social pressure
• Excessive deference to the authority
• Lack of rationality (and appeals to emotions in deciding rational
matters)
Good voters must be:
• Well informed on the facts
• Rational
• Guided by sound moral concerns
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Voting well
We should not vote for what we believe will promote the common good, but for what
we justifiably believe will do so.
[What if I believe that the best way to help my child sleep is to regularly give her
valium?]
Implication:
There’s nothing wrong if you don’t vote because you prefer to stay home watching Big
Brother’s reruns
But
You are blameworthy if you are politically active and passionate but vote in a
misinformed or irrational way (even if you are trying to promote the common good!)
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The right to vote
You should not vote ≠ you should not have the right to vote
You might have the right to X and yet be morally blameworthy for doing X.
Sometimes we have a right to do wrong (e.g. free-speech)
However, we might ask: why should we not enforce standards of good voting?
Examples:
- Test of competence to decide whether we can vote
- Plural voting
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The role of autonomyWouldn’t deprive people of the right to vote interfere with their moral
autonomy?
But
There are limits to our right to exercise our moral autonomy.
I cannot invoke my right to exercise my moral autonomy if doing so will
wrongfully harm you (e.g. by swinging a sword on the bus).
Why should voting be treated differently? (Think about the difference
between instrumental and non-instrumental justifications for democracy)