03. The death penalty is also legal in many states, but many people consider it unethical. This is why our founding fathers deliberately established a republic with strong controls against popular and hasty actions, rather than a democracy where people are encouraged to believe that they have the “right” to vote on anything and everything. It is a pity that their plan is so constantly eroded. Some examples depend on the cultural context. Think of Singapore, where it is illegal to sell chewing gum, not because it is immoral, but to promote public cleanliness. And until recently, it was illegal for women to drive in Saudi Arabia, in part because it was considered religiously immoral. This is in stark contrast to Western customs, where driving is commonplace, and in the United States, it is a rite of passage for all 16-year-olds, including women. What will they do? Do you stand there, obey the traffic light law, or jump across the street to save the child? Ignoring the traffic light would be illegal, but saving the child would clearly be morally right, right? So here we have an example of an illegal but morally just act. For example, a tribal system and a state-level society usually have different opinions about what is ethical. However, the differences between people mean that there will always be a gap between what is legal and what is ethical. Ethical, but not legal and legal, but not ethical behavior.
Rules and laws exist to protect and promote the functioning of communities. But therein lies one of the many eternal problems of the chicken or the egg: which came first, conformity or ethics? We might be inclined to think that laws stem from moral beliefs about what is right and wrong. But there are many interesting examples that challenge the perception that laws emanate from morality. Many American companies and the goods they produce have a negative impact on our society without breaking any laws. We know only too well the impact of the tobacco industry on public health and health care costs for smokers and non-smokers, as well as the role of profit in the research priorities of the pharmaceutical industry. It`s legal, but It Ain`t Right addresses these issues, as well as the ethical ambiguities of legalized gambling, the gun trade, the fast food industry, the pesticide industry, private security companies, and more. With the goal of identifying industries and assets that undermine our societal values and holding them accountable for their actions, this collection makes a valuable contribution to the ongoing discussion of ethics in our time. Mechanically, I have no objection to the democratic process – the mechanism – that we use to choose our public servants and decide various issues that affect everyone equally. I see no other practical way to do that.
But I am discouraged when people confuse the mechanism itself with the good and evil of the resulting actions. The “liquidation” of millions of people in Communist Russia under Stalin was a mistake; It would also have been wrong even if the overwhelming majority of the Russian people had voted for it in a democratic election. It is a fact that Hitler was elected more democratically than most presidents of the United States. But this fact, of course, has nothing to do with the right or wrong of the proposals and actions of the leaders of the two nations. Ultimately, the only issue that can be decided by government votes is what the minority should be forced to do by the majority. This dangerous weapon must indeed be used sparingly. Starting with Adam and Eve and the forbidden fruit tree, becoming true becoming human has always been about claiming the right to decide for oneself what one considers a permissible act. Moral autonomy and the freedom to decide for ourselves are the essence of what makes us human and the basis of all that is valuable in us.
If voting could really be used to distinguish right from wrong – and what we should all be forced or forbidden to do – we could use it to settle the religious question once and for all. We could vote democratically to decide which religion we should all belong to.