Community ClicksMay a Democrat work for a Republican?
I am a college student who will vote Democrat in the next election.
However, I’d like an internship with my congressman, a Republican.
I like the idea of working for my neighborhood, and while I disagree with many of his party’s stances, I do not disagree with all of his ideas — in fact, some of them are pretty good.
Is it unethical for a Democrat to work for a Republican congressmen?
— Anonymous,
Texas
It would be dishonorable to become the office mole, undermining your boss’s work, slipping his private papers into your boot, making furtive phone calls to his rivals: Even in politics, deceit and treachery are considered unethical if done in-house.
But if you can do the job honestly and capably, you may take it.
Your boss is not entitled to scrutinize your innermost beliefs, only your performance.
And you may find it edifying to work for someone whose views differ from yours.
In any case, party is not the issue — Barney Frank and Joe Lieberman caucus with the Democrats; Michael Bloomberg and Sarah Palin are Republicans — but political philosophy is pertinent.
If you deplore this congressman’s values, it may not be unethical but would certainly be unwise to help him advance an agenda you consider deleterious to the country.
Golf etiquette
A frequent golfer, I often find other people’s balls in various corners of a course.
I sometimes take them to the lone driving range here in Manhattan — known for its exorbitant prices — and hit them there, in effect giving them perfectly good golf balls while evading their rip-off ball fees.
Am I stealing or donating?
— Billy Bloom,
New York City
Quite the self-serving rationalization. (And for you kids at home eager to detect self-serving rationalizations, look for words like: “rip-off ball fees” and “exorbitant prices.”)
If your ball donation scheme is as advantageous to the driving range as you maintain — and it certainly seems to be — then surely they will accede to it when you ask permission, which you should do.
That you regard their prices as too high doesn’t allow you to cheat the place.
That you consider donating a bucket of balls to be fair compensation for teeing off doesn’t make it so.
I think that my presence at any NBA game adds to the fun, but Madison Square Garden perversely insists that I buy a ticket.
For barter schemes like yours and mine to be distinguishable from theft, they must be accepted by both parties in the transaction.
Should I make my cat be a vegetarian?
I believe in having compassion for all sentient beings; therefore, I do not eat meat.
If I feed my cat meat-based pet food, I am supporting the slaughter of other animals.
Assuming it will not impair his health, may I feed my cat vegetarian food, depriving him of what he would naturally eat and giving him no choice in the matter?
— Annalisa Lazzaro,
New York City
Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and you gotta provide your cat with a healthy diet even if that means letting a carnivore be a carnivore.
If this can be done with vegetarian cat food, go to it; a vet can advise you of your feline nutrition options.
The cat doesn’t get a say (except by refusing to eat the Soy Chow) any more than it does about, for example, getting vaccinated.
As to what it would do naturally, if released into the wild, what your cat would do is lead a short and unpleasant life.
This is not to exempt the cat’s behavior from moral consideration.
You should of course prevent it from, say, loitering around a bird feeder or using nuclear weapons.
