Thought for the Day

note: this is an "intro project" that i have written for my ethics and public policy class. it appears unfinished because it is. "intro projects" are just what they say they are: possible intros and outlines of thought that will be used later in the year to compile our final term paper. this one was too interesting to leave off of the blog, so have at it.

In the dwindling weeks of the campaign trail, name calling and accusations have been flying more liberally than normal. Last week, the New York Times reported that the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) was “under fire” from Republicans due to the suspected voter registration fraud that possibly occurred under its umbrella of responsibilities (Falcone, Michael. New York Times. 10/16/08). Some, mostly those of liberal political beliefs, hold that these allegations are only taking the public’s attention away from massive voter suppression (acorn.org. 10/10/08). Others, mostly those of conservative political beliefs, want to continue to shed light on the accusations and force admission or reform. Aside from this being a purely ethical dilemma, I believe that it is also one of harm. Every American citizen 18 years of age or older (yes, barring some criminal circumstances) has the right to vote. When people like the above mentioned ACORN workers take it upon themselves to lessen the right of other citizens to vote by registering deceased or underage voters or by registering others multiple times, my right is harmed. Therefore, according to the basics of the harm principle, it is the government’s duty to intervene in the crisis because every citizen’s right to vote has been infringed upon. In this paper, I will argue for the need of a government investigation into the ACORN scandal because it is exuding a harm onto the American people, people who have been given an equal say when choosing our government because every qualified person has the right to one, and only one, vote.

In the following paragraph, I will identify the context of this issue, the place of philosophers’ writings on the harm principle in this argument, causes for possible disagreement, and reasons for agreement with my thesis. This issue has no better context than the present election year, for which elections should be fair and equal to all parties involved. Philosophers like John Stuart Mill, author of the harm principle, would agree that this is in fact a breach of the common good, for it is obviously not affecting one person alone but the entire population of Americans eligible to vote. As stated above, liberals might disagree with my thesis by stating that this is voter suppression; if anything, the news coverage of the circumstances is shedding light on these minority and low-income voters and their status as such. Lastly, every American should be in support of my thesis because these illegally registered voters are encroaching on their right to vote just as much as they are on mine. This is not a partisan issue, but one of the common good.