Walzer The Problem Of Dirty Hands Analysis

]Walzer finds that politicians lack of morality is based more on lying, however he also acknowledges that the power of violence has an influence. In his essay, “The problem of Dirty Hands” he states,
“... the victorious politician uses violence and the threat of violence-not only against foreign nations in our defense but also against us, and again ostensibly for our greater good...The stock figure is the lying, not the murderous, politician-though the murderer lurks in the background, appearing most often in the form of the revolutionary or terrorist, very rarely as an ordinary magistrate or official. Nevertheless, the sheer weight of official violence in human history does suggest the kind of power to which politicians aspire, the kind of power they want to wield, and it may point to the roots of our …show more content…
Consider a politician who decides to do good only through moral means, and to avoid corruption. Shortly into a campaign, he is offered a deal from a corrupt ward boss, in exchange for granting the boss contracts. In some cases, if he is unwilling to do what is necessary to win the election, i.e to “dirty his hands”, he cannot qualify as a good politician, no matter how good of human being they may be(Walzer 165). Walzer expands on this idea, “He wants to win the election, someone says, but he doesn 't want to get his hands dirty. This is meant as a disparagement, even though it also means that the man being criticized is the sort of man who will not lie, cheat, bargain behind the backs of his supporters, shout absurdities at public meetings, or manipulate other men and women. Assuming that this particular election ought to be won, it is clear, I think, that the disparagement is justified. If the candidate didn 't want to get his hands dirty, he should have stayed at home”(Walzer