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BioEdge: Is voting for The Donald unethical?

BioEdge: Is voting for The Donald unethical?

Bioedge

Is voting for The Donald unethical?

by Michael Cook | 1 Oct 2016 | 8 comments

Is it ethical for bioethicists to support Donald Trump? Without actually naming him, Wayne Shelton, of the Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical Center, suggests that it is not.

Shelton’s reason is interesting. Bioethics, he argues, is a way of finding practical solutions in a society with fractured moral perspectives. This can only succeed in a healthy democracy where differences are settled peacefully.

Donald Trump and his angry, frustrated fans threaten this amicable way of settling disputes. It is time for bioethicists to speak out to protect democracy:

Bombast and lack of substance have always been part of American political rhetoric. Normally I would see the role of bioethicists to advocate for policy positions within the political process, but try to remain relatively neutral in attacking or supporting particular political candidates and speaking out so candidly about issues. But in my judgment, this election cycle is an exception. Now is the time for all thoughtful people who value democracy and, in particular, bioethicists should speak out strongly. We are not in a position to take our political order and indeed the framework for moral decision making for granted.

Some of the anger amongst voters stems from a changing economy. “Tragically, their despair, as expressed currently in political terms, approaches nihilism. For them the message is clear, the American way of life no longer provides them meaning and purpose.

But some is values-driven: “Another part of the explanation also involves evolving cultural and religious norms over the past few decades governing same sex marriage, women’s roles and their reproductive rights, along with greater ethnic and religious inclusion and tolerance—changes that we liberals celebrate as progress and essential to a growing democracy—that are anathema to many on the political and cultural right. “

Shelton concludes that this is “a vulnerable moment in our history, where a wrong outcome at the presidential level could change the character of our nation for generations, if not forever.”

- See more at: http://www.bioedge.org/bioethics/is-voting-for-the-donald-unethical/12025#sthash.uc02y5JR.dpuf

Bioedge

Yes, the American president is the most powerful man in the world. Yes, he has the launch codes. But there is something unhealthy in the preoccupation of the world’s media with the US presidential campaign at the expense of other world crises.

Donald Trump, who must be the worst major party candidate ever, seems to have incited violence at some of his rallies and has even made vague threats to Hillary Clinton. If you Google “Trump violence”, you will get 82,700,000 results. It’s a live issue, at least in the media.

Google “Duterte violence” and you will get only 971,000 results – about 1% of the figures for Trump. But Mr Duterte has incited thugs, vigilantes and police to kill drug dealers and since he took office on June 30. The Filipino president now has the blood of 3,500 of his own countrymen on his hands. And he is not a buffoon running for President. He is the President.

But it could get worse. This week he cheerfully compared himself to Hitler. “Hitler massacred three million Jews ... there’s three million drug addicts. There are. I’d be happy to slaughter them,” he told a press conference. “You know my victims. I would like (them) to be all criminals to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition.”

The number of murders in July, August and September is more or less equivalent to the number of civilians killed in Syria. Why doesn’t the world care? It’s probably because Duterte’s victims are drug addicts and dealers. Even if they are, they have a right to life and a right to justice. They are human beings; they are not scum.

The world is demanding the removal of Syria’s President Assad because of the atrocities committed by his regime. It’s time that world leaders called for the removal of President Duterte.