Single Issue Voting...

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been thinking a lot about the comments like "you cannot be a single issue voter" or "everything needs to be weighed, not just one issue". Well, I would agree with this if all things were equal but they aren't.


Lesson: Objective Truth and Hierarchy of Goods

What is Truth? How do we know it? Truth is that which corresponds to reality. But what is objective truth?

Objective Truth means that a specific truth remains true everywhere, independently of human thought or feelings. For instance, it is true always and everywhere that '2 plus 2 equals 4'. No matter where you decide to practice your arithmetic {be it in the classroom or Mars}, you will always get 4. But what else can fall into this category of Objective Truth? Here in America, the land of subjective rationalism, it may be hard to swallow that there are Truths that exist independently of our "feelings", thoughts or the American consensus. More on this to follow in the coming posts.

Hierarchy of Goods:
Hierarchy {defined by dictionary.com} is any system of persons or things ranked one above another. Though this may be another unpopular concept, it is an important one when discussing "single issue voting". In some way or another, everything has a value - whether it be monetary, aesthetic, or intrinsic. Because of this value, in some way everything fits into a Hierarchy of Goods. Let's try an exercise. Rank in Hierarchical order from 1 to 5 {with 5 being the greatest} the following items:
Your Mother
Tupperware
Your Puppy Fido
Your favorite CD
Love

Unless you have a strange obsession with Tupperware I am guessing that did not even make it past 3 on your list. Why was that easy? Why? Because each of these items have value but their values are not all equal.

So, if there is objective truth (certain things are non-negotiable no matter if you are a republican, democrat, libertarian or just a regular John Smith) and there is a Hierarchy of goods, that would make certain items or proposals on a ballot more important than others, say for instance Life vs. money. What would you vote to protect to save?