Intellectual Honesty

So during the drive home during the trip we had "The Conversation" - the uncomfortable one, charged with potential emotional potential and misunderstanding, that conversation that some many dread:

What did I think of the election?

Sigh.  I knew it was coming sooner or later.

How I attempted to approach it - which is how I attempt to approach everything - was not through the the lens of policies or personalities, which tends to be based on the emotions and presumptions of the listener, but rather through the lens I try to live my live through:  Intellectual Honesty.

I believe in intellectual honesty.  I believe that if you hold positions, you must apply them throughout your world view, not just to those portions of the world that you would like to apply them to - otherwise you are nothing more than a child of opinion, no better than the followers of the latest fad.

So I told them  "The question to ask yourselves and others is are you applying your beliefs across the board.  If you consider dishonesty to be lamentable and bad, do you excuse it in your candidates - or do you find reasons to justify it in your mind as being a different issue? This is the difference between those who are adults and those who are children."

Relevant example:  If you believe in the democratic process and the fact that the people voting should elect the candidate, then you as a Bernie Sanders supporter should have no truck with the Democratic party at this point.  I would not say whom you should vote for, only that you cannot support Hillary Clinton who was not truly elected by the voters for the election.  Any other course simply indicates that you have disengaged your intellectual honesty.  And if this is the case, you have no cause to complain of other failures in democratic processes.  After all, you have already conceded it is okay.

Or (to be fair to the other side)  if you believe in true capitalism (Freedom of Capital, best products for the lowest price) then you should question Trump's disavowal of trade agreements while supporting "Capitalism".  If you support true free trade, then to be intellectually honest you either do not vote for Trump or you have conceded that statism in economics - like they practice in China, for example - is okay.

Who am I voting for?  Not telling, of course - we are not political here and I am truly not sure.  But be assured that whomever I vote for, it will be as a result of attempting to be intellectually honest.

At least as honest as I can be given the current crop of candidates...