Nicomachean Ethics Case Study

In November, a general election for the United States Senate is being held. One candidate’s goal is to run an ethical and virtuous campaign. Therefore, she sought out my advice in order to set her on the right path to do so. The candidate proceeded to tell me that her campaign director decided to set up a super-PAC war chest that has the ability to destroy her opponent’s campaign without disclosing the identities of the candidate or her donors. Also, negative campaigns have been created and will be aired all over the country within the final ten days of the campaign. Finally, her campaign director has aligned the candidate with wealthy donors who are under investigation for fraud. Both the super-PAC and wealthy donors expect her to pass bills that will benefit them, but these bills will not benefit the entire nation. …show more content…
First, she made the point that candidates now use dirty tactics in order to win. Also, in order for the candidate to get elected and defeat her opponent, she must take preemptive measures against him or her because they most likely have undermined her campaign already. After hearing everything that has occurred or will occur during the campaign, I proceeded to give her advice and I defended myself by utilizing my book Nicomachean Ethics. An ethical and virtuous campaign can only survive if the candidate were to disregard everything that has been set in motion by her campaign director thus far. A virtuous campaign would not intentionally make an opponent look bad. However, it would focus on what is good for the country. By using negative campaign ads, accepting donations from suspicious people, and setting up a super-PAC war chest she has begun to degrade herself and lose sight of her virtues of character. She will become unrecognizable unless she takes action to counter