Feddites who live in countries with elections, do you generally feel morally responsible for your government’s actions? Why/Whynot?
Exaggerated and made up example of what I’m curious about:
My country has legitimate elections. When my government wrongly convicts someone I feel as if I have personally wronged that person by voting for the person who appointed the judge. God will judge both me and the judge for it.
Do I feel responsible for the selfish, harmful and bigoted choices made by a government I did my best to keep out of power? No, I don’t feel responsible, I feel angry
Feeling morally responsible for the actions of an entire nation sounds like a great way to give yourself ulcers.
But seriously, even in a "democracy", there is too much shady shit going on behind the curtain to really hold the general public accountable for all of it.
Never confuse people for their governments. You get to vote for the options on the ballot paper. You don’t get to choose who is on it and nor do you have to pretend that the least worst option is actually good.
I get upset that the government has done something I disagree with or find immoral but even if I voted for a person I am still no more in control of that person than I am any other person.
I do my best to vote for people I feel are good people in line with my preferred policies but I only accept guilt over my own actions. For example, when I voted in the presidential election, I had no way of knowing what was about to happen in Israel. How can I accept guilt over my elected officials actions without knowing what they would be in an unpredictable future?
As you sort of suggested in your example, only if I voted for the person who did something wrong (or, I suppose if I were to miss an election and failed to vote against that person).
Somewhat but keep in mind that most countries that allow voting are not completely democratic. The actions of the government only consider the will of the people—they are not typically controlled by the people directly, though some are closer than others to this ideal.
For me personally it’s more about what actions can I take to influence the outcome? If it’s an important issue, am I doing all I can to exercise my voice? For the important issues this can go beyond voting. But if the government does something I don’t support and had no ability to prevent, no I don’t necessarily feel guilty about that.
I feel culpable for my governments actions. I mentally frame it as “my government” and “what we did” instead of the more common “the government” and “what they did.”
I feel it’s the only way to be a good democratic citizen. We speak reality into existence and I refuse to speak myself to the sidelines of self-governance, even if it means feeling culpable for the terrible actions of my government.
I’d argue that nobody is morally or ethically responsible for the actions taken by a politician simply because they voted for that politician. Politicians themselves are responsible for their own actions.
Think about it like this: Scenario 1: if a politician makes an election promise that helps get them elected, and once elected they decide to renege on the promise, is that the fault of the people who voted for them?
Scenario 2: a politician runs on a platform talking a lot about health care and gun control. Once elected, they grant massive tax cuts to giant corporations, something never mentioned in their original platform. Once they’re done being a politician, they get a job working with one of the giant corporations who benefited from the tax cuts. Is that the fault of the voters?
Scenario 3: a politician runs on a platform of killing people, and once elected, kills some people as promised.
For #3 you can make a decent case of Maybe yes, voters have some moral responsibility, but for 1 and 2 it seems less clear cut. Thus: it’s not a black-and-white thing, more grey than anything
Add comment