Subscribe to my Feed
« New York Times “Social Q’s” apology advice misses the mark | Home | MSN’s Brush explains why the housing bill may not prevent future financial disasters »
Will the next President challenge election fearmongering?
By Lauren | July 25, 2008
This week I heard from a friend (let’s call her Ellen) about a political fundraising gambit that left her hopping mad. An older widow who has difficulty getting around, Ellen returned home one day to find that the Post Office had tried to deliver a certified letter to her. Fearing the worst (certified letters often contain bad news), Ellen drove to the Post Office the next day but, since her mail carrier was making another attempt at delivery, she was unable to pick up the letter. It cost Ellen three days, two trips to the Post Office, a quarter of a tank of gas, and a whole lot of angst before she was able to get her urgent, certified letter. Guess what it turned out to be?
A political fundraising pitch.
Ellen’s son passed the letter along to me, complaining that disguising a fundraising request as a certified letter was highly unethical. I didn’t entirely agree … until I opened the letter and read it. Signed by the chair of one of the national political parties’ Senatorial Committee, the letter was loaded with dire warnings about how the United States is headed for certain, irreparable ruin unless the other party is defeated in November. It portrayed Senators from the other party as crazed ideologues hell-bent on destroying America, not men and women of good will who happen to have different political views than their colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Warning that it “all comes down to you,” the letter laid it on thick for almost four pages, then hit Ellen up for a hundred-dollar contribution.
What utter rot.
One hundred dollars is less than the smallest speck of decimal dust in the great, money-guzzling machine that is Washington. If one hundred dollars from an aging widow is all that stands between this country and irreparable ruin, we’re in a lot of trouble indeed. Ellen was smart enough to see through it, but other recipients may not be so savvy.
We hear a lot of debate about whether attack ads are ethical, but at least those ads get aired in public where they can be challenged by the other side. Fundraising letters like the one Ellen received normally are read only by their recipients, which makes them a marvelous platorm for exaggerations, speculations, and outright lies that cater to the ugliest fears and prejudices of their audience. How ethical is it for a political party to tell its supporters exaggerated half-truths in the hope of terrifying them into making bigger contributions? How ethical is it for a political party to encourage its supporters to hate and fear the “other side” when almost everything that actually gets done in Washington is a product of consensus and compromise? And how ethical is it for a political party to pretend that a contribution that won’t even pay for the balloon drop at the national convention is all that stands between America and the great abyss?
Senators McCain and Obama both seem to be decent, reasonably principled men who wouldn’t deliberately lie to a little old lady, in public or in private. (Maybe that’s just because the press would crucify them if they did, but I’d like to think better of them both.) As the leaders of their respective parties, the two Presidential candidates are in an excellent position to protect their supporters from dishonest political fearmongering. What’s your candidate’s position on terrorizing contributors? Do his actions match his promises, and are you okay with that? You decide.
Topics: For Actuaries, Presidential Campaign, Social Ethics |
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 am
[...] presents Will the next President challenge election fearmongering? posted at The Business Ethics Blog, saying, “This fearmongering by politicians is just [...]
August 6th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
[...] presents Will the next President challenge election fearmongering? posted at The Business Ethics Blog, saying, “This fearmongering by politicians is just [...]
September 4th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
[...] presents Will the next President challenge election fearmongering? posted at The Business Ethics Blog, saying, “This fearmongering by politicians is just [...]