Unless you are a die-hard supporter of Hilary Clinton or Donald Trump, you understand that this campaign ranks as the sleaziest in American history. And unless you are blind, gullible, or foolish, you also understand that the dirty tricks, truths, half-truths, and lies being pulled out of various closets right now—everything from Wikileaks to charges of sexual misconduct—were delayed until this moment in order to influence the election.
So what’s a voter to do?
So what’s a voter to do?
Let me suggest one way to decide which candidate we want to support. It is a concept as old as the American Republic, but it is also a concept we have rarely practiced.
Disinterestedness.
That clumsy old word has nothing to do with being uninterested, as some to whom I have mentioned the idea first infer. To be disinterested means, as Josiah Bunting III tells us in An Education For Our Time, a “deliberate scouring away of egotistic ambition or calculation…we must school ourselves to see things as they really are, vigilantly correcting for the urgings of our own biases or prejudices, whatever their origins.”
Thomas Jefferson, Bunting reminds us, once said of John Adams that he was “as disinterested as the Being who made him.” By this high compliment, and it was intended as a high compliment, Jefferson meant that Adams was able to put himself aside when it came to making a decision about an issue, that in making such a decision he would first eliminate “all calculations of benefit or gain.” In a similar vein, James Madison wrote that the leaders of a republic must be “capable of disinterested judgment.”
To be disinterested implies putting feelings aside in favor of thinking and analytical evaluation. To be disinterested means putting duty ahead of ego. To be disinterested means looking at your responsibilities as a citizen and asking yourself: What is the best course for my country and how may I serve on that voyage?
To vote for a candidate because of gender or race, to vote for that man or woman who promises to give us benefits and entitlements, to vote for a candidate because he or she has promised us rainbows without the storms necessary to make rainbows: all run counter to disinterestedness. Instead of being driven by the hyperbole of the press, we should look at our candidates and political parties, and ask with our eyes wide open which candidate or party will best serve the interests of these United States.
So how in this current race with all its embarrassments, its mudslinging, and its hatred can we perform this task of evaluation?
We can begin by looking past the candidates as portrayed in the daily news, past the accusations and half-truths. We visit their websites: Republican, Democrat, Independent, Greens. We look at the promises of the candidates and their vision for their country and its future. If we have the time, we explore further, looking up their past history of employment, their voting records, their support for various causes.
In other words, instead of judging our candidates by some bit of information popping up in the press like a bubble in a cesspool—Hilary Clinton’s attacks on the women whom her husband raped or molested, Donald Trump sexual aggressions—we look at what might be best for America. Where do the candidates stand on the economy? Do they offer us viable economic solutions to our present difficulties? What plans do they have for reducing our entitlement programs, which will eventually break our country? How about immigration? Do they believe in following our current polices or reducing immigration? In either case, why? Do the candidates believe in increasing or reducing the power of the government? What are their views on American foreign policy? Do they advocate more involvement in places like the Middle East or are they in favor of backing away from some of the conflicts there?
As I stated above, the media—the mainstream media, the political sites online—is blasting away with all guns, bombarding us with slanted news and opinionated stories. Driven by the machinations of these “reporters”, our intelligence surrenders to passions. Instead of coolly and objectively evaluating the candidates, the parties, and their positions, we become a mob baying for blood.
If you intend to vote in November, dig a little. Look at the candidates. Decide what sort of future you want for your country and find a candidate who comes closest to that vision.
Then vote.
Disinterestedness.
That clumsy old word has nothing to do with being uninterested, as some to whom I have mentioned the idea first infer. To be disinterested means, as Josiah Bunting III tells us in An Education For Our Time, a “deliberate scouring away of egotistic ambition or calculation…we must school ourselves to see things as they really are, vigilantly correcting for the urgings of our own biases or prejudices, whatever their origins.”
Thomas Jefferson, Bunting reminds us, once said of John Adams that he was “as disinterested as the Being who made him.” By this high compliment, and it was intended as a high compliment, Jefferson meant that Adams was able to put himself aside when it came to making a decision about an issue, that in making such a decision he would first eliminate “all calculations of benefit or gain.” In a similar vein, James Madison wrote that the leaders of a republic must be “capable of disinterested judgment.”
To be disinterested implies putting feelings aside in favor of thinking and analytical evaluation. To be disinterested means putting duty ahead of ego. To be disinterested means looking at your responsibilities as a citizen and asking yourself: What is the best course for my country and how may I serve on that voyage?
To vote for a candidate because of gender or race, to vote for that man or woman who promises to give us benefits and entitlements, to vote for a candidate because he or she has promised us rainbows without the storms necessary to make rainbows: all run counter to disinterestedness. Instead of being driven by the hyperbole of the press, we should look at our candidates and political parties, and ask with our eyes wide open which candidate or party will best serve the interests of these United States.
So how in this current race with all its embarrassments, its mudslinging, and its hatred can we perform this task of evaluation?
We can begin by looking past the candidates as portrayed in the daily news, past the accusations and half-truths. We visit their websites: Republican, Democrat, Independent, Greens. We look at the promises of the candidates and their vision for their country and its future. If we have the time, we explore further, looking up their past history of employment, their voting records, their support for various causes.
In other words, instead of judging our candidates by some bit of information popping up in the press like a bubble in a cesspool—Hilary Clinton’s attacks on the women whom her husband raped or molested, Donald Trump sexual aggressions—we look at what might be best for America. Where do the candidates stand on the economy? Do they offer us viable economic solutions to our present difficulties? What plans do they have for reducing our entitlement programs, which will eventually break our country? How about immigration? Do they believe in following our current polices or reducing immigration? In either case, why? Do the candidates believe in increasing or reducing the power of the government? What are their views on American foreign policy? Do they advocate more involvement in places like the Middle East or are they in favor of backing away from some of the conflicts there?
As I stated above, the media—the mainstream media, the political sites online—is blasting away with all guns, bombarding us with slanted news and opinionated stories. Driven by the machinations of these “reporters”, our intelligence surrenders to passions. Instead of coolly and objectively evaluating the candidates, the parties, and their positions, we become a mob baying for blood.
If you intend to vote in November, dig a little. Look at the candidates. Decide what sort of future you want for your country and find a candidate who comes closest to that vision.
Then vote.
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