My "Political Philosophy"

[bunny]

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Ideally we want the actions to reflect the majority view rather than our own. If the majority want to do something we believe stupid then we want that stupid thing to be done. That's the whole idea of democracy and if we voluntarily take part then we are responsible for a system in which the majority view holds and hence we are responsible for the system acting as the majority want. Arguing our case doesn't change any of that.

Real life is slightly less ideal but the general idea still holds.

chez

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I'm not sure I see your point. Given that I had no ability to prevent the actions of the government, it doesnt seem fair to ascribe some repsonsibility to me for those actions.

I think the responsibility we share part of is the selection of the government (that's 1 eleven millionth "my fault"). It seems to me that I shouldnt gain any credit for virtuous acts done by the Howard government (that belongs to the 6 million who voted for them) but nor do I get blame for the bad things they do (as I struggled as hard as I could to prevent them).

Hmm..this appears to just be restating my point above. I guess it boils down to: How is it fair to blame me for something I couldnt prevent?