Sauron—an example of a greater evil you can vote for a lesser evil to avoid. (NA) We are in the midst of another election cycle. And I’m far from the only person who thinks the available options are far from great. This situation, like other recent elections, raises difficult questions about such issues as whether people have a duty to vote, whether it is permissible to vote for a badly flawed candidate if the alternative is even worse, and how to balance competing issues in making voting decisions. I’ve written about these kinds of issues in some detail, previously, and this post links and and summarizes some of those writings. It is not a post about which 2024 presidential candidate is best (or least bad), though I will likely write about that on a later occasion. It’s about how we should make such decisions. Unless otherwise noted, these pieces were all published right here at the VC blog:
“The Logic of Voting for a Lesser Evil” This post was inspired by the 2016 election, but almost all of it remains relevant today. In it, I explain why it is both permissible and desirable to vote for the lesser evil in an election where all of the viable options are bad. I address a variety of counterarguments, including claims that voting for a lesser evil makes you morally complicit in that candidate’s wrongdoing, arguments that it’s better to cast a “protest vote” for a candidate that has no chance of winning, arguments based on the very low probability that your vote will be decisive, and more.
“Justifying a Moral Duty to Vote is a Lot Harder than You Might Think.” Many people, including some political theorists, believe we have a moral duty to vote. I disagree. Indeed, I think—in many cases—it’s better if you don’t vote, especially if ignorance and bias make it likely you will make a bad decision. Casting a ballot motivated by ignorance and bias is often worse than not voting at all.
“Is there a Moral Duty to Vote in an Election Where the Stakes are Unusually High?” Even if there is no general duty to vote, perhaps we are morally required to do so in situations where the stakes of an election are unusually high. In this post, I explain why I disagree—at least with respect to most voters. There is, however, a limited kernel of truth in this argument.
“How to be a Better Voter” Some steps you can take to be a better voter, building on a helpful article in Scientific American. I think a wide range of people can do these things. You don’t have to be an academic or policy expert to undertake the task. But I am skeptical that more than a small fraction of the electorate will ever be willing to put in the time and effort.
“Suffer the Little Children to Vote” In this post, I make a tentative argument for letting children vote, so long as they show they have attained a level of political knowledge as high as that of the average adult voter -which is not that high a standard!
“Top-Down and Bottom-Up Solutions to the Problem of Political Ignorance,” in Hana Samaržija and Quassim Cassam, eds. The Epistemology of Democracy (Routledge, 2023). Many of the most serious flaws of voting arise from the fact that most voters tend to be ignorant about government public policy, and highly biased in their evaluation of the political information they do know. In this article, I go over a range of possible strategies for mitigating this problem.
“Setting Issue Priorities” How to decide which issues to prioritize over others. Not solely about voting. But relevant to voting decisions.
“If You Don’t Vote, You Still Have Every Right to Complain.” Feeling down after considering the above? This piece might make you slightly happier; even if you don’t vote, you are justified in criticizing the policies of the winners! I would add that the same logic shows that, if you vote for the winner on the grounds that she is a lesser evil, you are still justified in complaining about her policies. Vote for Cersei over Sauron, when necessary. But then condemn the evil she does. Just make sure not to be at the wrong place at the wrong time when she decides to purge her critics.
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