News for nerds, stuff that matters

Is “dirty politics” an integral part of Democracy?

I’ve been following the GOP debates loosely, and recently came across this attack on Gingrich. A recent article on Foxnews, (I know, I know, Fox news..), but here’s the title of the article, “Gingrich: Dirty Politics Undermine Democracy”. Here is a link to the article: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2012/01/20/gingrich-dirty-politics-undermine-democracy

Newt Gingrich condemned these “bogus emails” “alleging he asked his ex-wife Marianne for an abortion. During vital times in the campaign as this, it is an obvious danger to the damage to his campaign. Here’s what he had to say to his defense,

“I am sick of the kind of dishonest campaigns that we see when people go out and fake somebody else’s material for the purpose of causing trouble 24 hours before a primary,” he said. “This is not worthy of our children and grandchildren. It’s not worthy of America. It’s not funny. It’s not a game.”

This seemingly trivial manner brings about a question to the fundamental philosophical question, “Do politicians themselves have to be virtuous? Or do we merely care about the outcome during their term?” In a very Greek-philosophy way, we are asking, “Does it matter if a sophist (one that is a clever-speaker but is deceptive) rules, or a philosopher king (a virtuous man)?” Despite the dominating notion of Liberty and freedoms, it seems that society still unconsciously perceive democracies to be driven by virtuous people, with high moral standards, and will promote a positive image of the society. With this implied expectation of politicians, it makes it inevitable that the media will delve into personal lives and perhaps infringe on their privacies.

Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2012/01/20/gingrich-dirty-politics-undermine-democracy#ixzz1k4DEvhOZ

1 comment


1 Christina { 01.31.12 at 1:31 pm }

This is an interesting topic that always catches my eyes in politics! I think in the States personal politics plays a huge role. A fair chunk of the news I hear about the candidates doesn’t relate to their political policies but rather, their clothing, family life, speech mannerisms, or non-political comments. Personally, I’m not sure how I would answer that question. Ideally, I would like my politicians to be personally ethical but overall I just want them to make ethical decisions for my country.

Leave a Comment