Topics Justice

Question Recently, a politician announced that (unlike his opponent) he supported a major government initiative that would bring money and jobs to my area. If the initiative passed, my life would almost certainly improve. The rest of the country, however, would be worse off, because the plan is mostly pork spending that wastes money. At first I thought I should vote for the candidate who opposes the initiative, because that would help the most people. But on the other hand, our political system seems to be designed expecting citizens to vote in their interest. Our congress, for instance, is elected on a state-by-state basis, implying that each congressperson should have a special concern for their state. What would be the responsible way to vote?

Accepted:
August 11, 2008

Comments

I don't think geographical representation implies what you say it does. Its rationale could just as easily be that the legislature -- when deliberating about justice and the common good for all Americans -- should be fully informed of how its decisions would affect people in different parts of the country. Each legislator would then bring her or his special knowledge and understanding into the debate, but they all would decide on a common basis of what's best for all citizens.

This would be, in my view, a much better system than the one we have, where legislators are beholden to the interests of their specific electorates and contributors (often actually more to the campaign contributors from outside their district than to ordinary people within their district). But it does not follow that you must therefore act in the interest of all citizens, impartially. You can say that, even if it were best if everyone were impartial, citizens and their political representatives are not in fact impartial and, because most of them pay no heed to your interests, it's permissible for you to pay no heed to their interests.

But do you want to make this plea? Your first reaction shows that you find the more impartial ethos morally more appealing. So you should perhaps do your bit to get us there -- for example, by not punishing candidates who take an impartial perspective, by not rewarding those who bring wasteful pork to your district, and by discussing different ideas of democracy with those around you.