On a Danger of Pragmatics in Voting for President

One of the main reasons to make major decisions based on principles rather than pragmatics is that making decisions based on sound moral/ethical principles is always commendable, whereas you can't see the actual results to which your pragmatic decisions may lead.

Voting Trump as a Pragmatic Decision

At the 1998 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, in the wake of the scandals plaguing Bill Clinton's presidency, the messengers to the Convention passed a "Resolution on Moral Character of Public Officials". This resolution called on "all Americans to embrace and act on the conviction that character does count in public office, and to elect those officials and candidates who, although imperfect, demonstrate consistent honesty, moral purity and the highest character."

More recently, many Southern Baptists and other evangelicals have voted for Donald Trump, who is a serial divorcee and admitted serial adulterer (he has bragged about his exploits in his books), and who regularly uses language in a way that demonstrates a gross lack of self-control.

When challenged on their vote for Mr. Trump, many Southern Baptists and other evangelicals refer to the importance of seeing conservative Supreme Court justices take the bench as a reason to disregard our earlier Resolution.

This is an example of pragmatic, ends-justify-the-means type of thinking. A problem with this type of thinking is that we can't really know the end of this process. We are at the verge of possibly seeing Mr. Trump have a third Supreme Court justice seated: a situation that may secure a solid conservative majority on the Court. If this occurs, Southern Baptists and other evangelicals will understandably feel vindicated. It will seem that their pragmatic decision paid off in just the way that they had hoped.

HOWEVER, it now seems a real possibility that the Democrats are poised to end the filibuster and pack the Supreme Court with additional liberal justices: a move that would negate the seeming conservative victory. Donald Trump's lack of character is a major reason why the Democrats are emboldened in this direction, feeling that they can (in some way) claim the moral high ground and avoid serious voter backlash.

Voting Biden as a Pragmatic Decision

Some evangelicals have reacted against the pragmatic vote for Donald Trump with the idea that we should pragmatically vote for Joe Biden in an attempt to reset American politics and break the Republican Party from a Trump-controlled agenda. A leading voice in the regard is David French. French and others like him make a credible claim of conservatism based on their past writings, but they are planning to cast a protest vote for Biden. They disregard the fact that Biden greatly values his endorsements by Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Rights Action League, and that he has vowed to expand government funding of abortion and to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law; Joe Biden says that abortion is a woman's right and a form of healthcare. French writes that "The power of the president over abortion is profoundly limited"; HOWEVER, this disregards the Mexico City Policy and the influence that the president has over his fellow party members in Congress regarding legislation that could bolster or repeal the Hyde Amendment. OF COURSE, the statement that "The power of the president over abortion is profoundly limited" also entirely disregards the president's role in nominating Supreme Court justices, and this is an especially egregious omission when the Democratic Party is floating the idea of placing additional justices on the bench.

Conclusion: Principles over Pragmatics

I still agree with my 1998 self and with the statement we made at the Southern Baptist Convention that year. I still call on call on "all Americans to embrace and act on the conviction that character does count in public office, and to elect those officials and candidates who, although imperfect, demonstrate consistent honesty, moral purity and the highest character". Don't neglect this call based on pragmatics. I know that pragmatic voters want to make things better, but the immediate outcome of a pragmatic decision that runs contrary to principle may place a gross blemish on your own character as well as having the actual effect of making the situation in this country WAY WORSE.