Dirty Hands Walzer/Calhoun

While first reading these articles I couldn't help but think of the current budget situation and the hard decisions all politicians at every level of government are going to have to make. It is truely a moral dilemma to balance a budget in the red. Politicians either raise taxes or are forced to cut esseintial services. I would choose the utilitarian veiw of achieving the most for the common good. A politicaian cannot simply play Budget Hero on MPR(an online game to balance the federal budget using realistic tools) and create an utopian surplus. The real political world has their hands covered in dirt, but I would be cautious on the point that a politicians hands are inherently dirty.

Yes, a politician runs for office to win, but are we still waiting for that one person to come along who will make the tough decisions and still be clean? Maybe I am wrong but I am still holding out that a politician can make tough decisions but remain excrement free if those decisions are done for the common good. As I look at the last eight years, the dirt has well exceeded the elbows of President Bush. In the Walzer reading the topic of torture was unearthed. Do we torture on Guatamano Bay so that we saves lives in Iraq? That is pretty Machiavellian, to do something bad in order to get ahead. Is it possible to progress politically w/o committing immoral acts? I agree with Meaghen that the jury is still out if that is the most productive and moral coarse to take. Although, I wait for politician to come and prove to us that he/she can govern for the common good with out getting his/her hands, elbows, and shoulders covered in dirt.

I want the idealist inside of me to be right on the topice of "dirty hands," but I feel the realist making progress. There is also something about being a politician that seems to be an automatic red flag. They are making the hard desicions so why wouldn't we be any different if put in their shoes? Shannon, I too wonder who is right on torturewhen Bush and Obama think their own positions on the subject are morally right?

Adam Yust