Moral Citizenship, Moral Dilemmas, and Democratic Outcomes
The early morning election results today, here in the United States, have set many people on edge, and not just Kamala Harris supporters. A common sentiment among those Americans who voted for the Democrats, and many concerned people around the world who are directly affected by how the United States sets and implements its policies, is that they simply cannot understand what motivated Trump’s MAGA supporters to vote him back into the White House. Yet there can be no doubt: President-Elect Donald Trump is what our democracy has produced.
Wasn’t Trump the former president who delayed responding to and downplayed the gravity of the COVID-19 pandemic, at the cost of thousands of American lives? Isn’t this the president who faced two impeachment trials? Isn’t Donald Trump responsible, in a significant way, for the racially divisive response to the George Floyd killing, and for rhetoric that consistently exacerbates tensions among and toward different racial,
ethnic, immigrant, and other marginalized groups? Didn’t Trump as president pull America out of the Paris Climate Agreement, and intentionally weaken federal environmental regulations? Doesn’t President-Elect Trump assert that global climate change is a hoax? Wasn’t Trump as president the leader who sought to repeal healthcare (Obamacare), without offering any replacement? Isn’t President-Elect Trump set on ending all federal support for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives?
The list of concerns about his earlier performance and priorities in his first term as president extends to his alienation and disrespect of America’s allies abroad, his cruel “family separations” policy on immigration, his trade war with China, the significant increase in the national debt under his watch, and the culmination of it all with the Capitol Riot on January 6, 2021.
These actions are all part of the historical record, yet none of it matters now. Donald Trump won. He is now President-Elect. The Republican Party won the presidency both in the votes of the Electoral College and in the popular vote (winning both for the first time since George W. Bush beat John Kerry 20 years ago). Clearly most Americans felt motivated by their values to return Donald Trump to the White House.
So, the American electorate has spoken – but what does it mean?
The Center for Values in International Development (C4V) is, like many organizations, now engaged in taking stock of this example of our democracy in action. So many important questions arise in the context of this outcome, juxtaposed against America’s moral relationships and ethical obligations toward the developing world (“the Global South”), and toward USAID’s efforts to expand democratic values around the world. For example:
1) What ought C4V to think, say, and do about the increasingly porous separation of church and state in America and abroad, and what that means in political decision-making concerning countries which flout human rights in the name of religion? Such religion-based movements (e.g., those associated with the World Congress of Families) are often abundantly bankrolled by American, European, and Latin American evangelical Christian movements, traditionalist Catholic groups (e.g., the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property), and Islamic leaders and organizations in parts of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, all of which advocate for anti-LGBTQI+ laws or cultural norms that restrict LGBTQI+ rights.
2) Doesn’t the thriving of any democracy depend on trust-building, which in turn is built upon a shared commitment by all voters to engage with each other honestly and in the mutual recognition of well-proven facts? Isn’t it anti- democratic to misinform and disinform, intentionally, to manipulate voters to vote in a certain way? The philosopher most clearly associated with human dignity, Immanuel Kant, would certainly have something to say on that obligation were he alive now (see Kant’s Second Categorial Imperative – the Formula of Humanity as an End in Itself).
3) Ought not such character virtues as integrity, empathy, decency, truth-telling, courage, humility, accountability, and respect for the law be central determinants in how voters evaluate our democratic leaders, and decide if such candidates ought to be selected, respected, and followed?
January 2025 will see many changes. This will include (as happens with the return of every Republican administration) the reappearance of the Global Gag Rule (also known at the Mexico City Policy), which will sharply and severely limit access by women in poor countries to reproductive health services. Under this GOP policy, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive U.S. global health funding are prohibited from using any of their resources, even non-U.S. provided funds, to provide abortion services, counsel on abortion as an option, or advocate for abortion access. The Mexico City Policy limitations can and often do extend to constraints on HIV/AIDS prevention, maternal care, and child health services.
Deeper moral questions on the moral dimensions of citizenship also arise. What are the civic responsibilities of citizens in a democracy to become well-informed, exercise critical thinking and moral discernment, show care and empathy for those less fortunate, protect the global environment, and seek more equitable national and global distribution of wealth? (Elon Musk’s wealth of around $250 billion rivals the GDP of New Zealand or Portugal, and eclipses most African and South American countries. The annual budget of the World Food Program – around $8 billion – could be funded several times over with a relatively small portion of that billionaire’s wealth, saving countless lives).
C4V is a non-partisan organization, but we are here to ask deep and important moral questions and help raise awareness and improve robustness of moral deliberations in democracies, all within the context of international development and humanitarian response.
As international development ethicists and philosophers, we have important work ahead.
Chloe Schwenke, Ph.D.
President and Founder, C4V
Photo Credit: SDI Productions