{"id":304,"date":"2017-07-10T20:30:26","date_gmt":"2017-07-10T20:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=304"},"modified":"2017-08-20T12:29:53","modified_gmt":"2017-08-20T12:29:53","slug":"an-ethical-dilemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2017\/07\/10\/an-ethical-dilemma\/","title":{"rendered":"An Ethical Dilemma"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Ethical Dilemma<\/p>\n

It was 1995 here in little Pataskala, Ohio. There was a local fight between a small faction that wanted to take over the school board, and the \u201cgood guys\u201d allied against them (guess which side I was on!!) It was ugly, at board meetings, in the newspapers, and even with threats of lawsuits (and challenges to duels!)<\/p>\n

I was a participant in the fray, both as a teacher\/coach, and an officer in the local teachers\u2019 union. I awoke one morning to find a manila envelope wedged in my front door. I opened and read damaging material about one of the \u201cbad guys,” \u00a0incredibly personal and intimate. It would decimate him and destroy their “cause.”<\/p>\n

Was it true, or not? Was it someone settling a personal grudge? Did it matter, if it achieved the political goal of \u201cbeating the bad guys?\u201d<\/p>\n

In any kind of political career you make ethical decisions; weighing right versus wrong against cost versus benefit. Some aren\u2019t a big deal: do you put signs up in the road right-of-way (technically illegal). \u00a0Some are tougher: \u00a0do you \u201cgo negative\u201d in a campaign with facts against your rival (and how far do you go.) Some are even worse, do you accept the support of someone who clearly will expect something in return. And then there\u2019s the ultimate question: are you willing to do anything and everything<\/em>\u00a0to win?<\/p>\n

Donald Trump Jr, Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner were faced with this kind of ethical question. A meeting was arranged with a Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, with the goal of getting \u201cdirt\u201d on Hillary Clinton. http:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2017\/07\/10\/donald-trump-jr-russia-meeting-legal-danger-240370<\/a><\/p>\n

A brief Google search would have found the linkage between Veselnitskaya and pro-Putin positions. A little further digging would have found that she represents some of Putin\u2019s closer allies. Trump Jr, Manafort and Kushner walked into a meeting with a Russian with government connections at a time when the Trump campaign was pivoting to attack Clinton, and looking for a way to get it done (and Trump himself was calling on Russia to find Hillary\u2019s 30,000 emails.) That this particular source (whether it was fruitful or not, we really don\u2019t know yet) was so obviously linked to Putin\u2019s regime should have warned them off. But they took the meeting, making the ethical decision that the benefits would be worth the cost.<\/p>\n

If they got information \u201chacked\u201d from the Clinton campaign and the DNC it was illegal. If they were searching for information from any source (especially foreign) to \u201cget Clinton\u201d they may have participated in a pattern of corrupt activity (RICO violation.) Either way, they showed they were willing to do whatever was needed to win.<\/p>\n

So those were the ethics of the Trump campaign senior staff. They couldn\u2019t have been so ignorant of campaign ethics and law especially with such a seasoned campaigner as Manafort in the room. No, they made a choice.<\/p>\n

I made a choice too. Regardless of our political differences, I called the \u201cbad guy,\u201d met him at the local restaurant, and handed him the envelope. Though the information, true or false, would have changed the debate and destroyed him, I had good reason to believe it wasn\u2019t true. It was a choice, one that I taught my students and my athletes: that cheating to win isn\u2019t winning at all. I considered the consequences, and decided the results weren\u2019t worth the cost.<\/p>\n

We won our issue in the end, campaigning on the ideas we believed in. Perhaps the Trumps would have too. We\u2019ll never know, and the price of \u00a0 \u201cwinning at all cost\u201d ethics may be their utter destruction.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Ethical Dilemma It was 1995 here in little Pataskala, Ohio. There was a local fight between a small faction that wanted to take over the school board, and the \u201cgood guys\u201d allied against them (guess which side I was on!!) It was ugly, at board meetings, in the newspapers, and even with threats of … Continue reading “An Ethical Dilemma”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAn Ethical Dilemma : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2017\/07\/10\/an-ethical-dilemma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Ethical Dilemma : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An Ethical Dilemma It was 1995 here in little Pataskala, Ohio. There was a local fight between a small faction that wanted to take over the school board, and the \u201cgood guys\u201d allied against them (guess which side I was on!!) It was ugly, at board meetings, in the newspapers, and even with threats of … Continue reading "An Ethical Dilemma"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2017\/07\/10\/an-ethical-dilemma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-07-10T20:30:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-08-20T12:29:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/10\\\/an-ethical-dilemma\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/10\\\/an-ethical-dilemma\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"headline\":\"An Ethical Dilemma\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-10T20:30:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-20T12:29:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/10\\\/an-ethical-dilemma\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":620,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/10\\\/an-ethical-dilemma\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/10\\\/an-ethical-dilemma\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/10\\\/an-ethical-dilemma\\\/\",\"name\":\"An Ethical Dilemma : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-07-10T20:30:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-20T12:29:53+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/10\\\/an-ethical-dilemma\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/10\\\/an-ethical-dilemma\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2017\\\/07\\\/10\\\/an-ethical-dilemma\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"An Ethical Dilemma\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/\",\"name\":\"Trump World - Essays on Politics and the Trump Administration\",\"description\":\"Essays on Politics and Life in Our America\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\",\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\",\"width\":480,\"height\":640,\"caption\":\"Marty Dahlman\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/dahlman.online\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/03\\\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\"},\"description\":\"I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dahlman.online\",\"https:\\\/\\\/m.facebook.com\\\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/martydahlman\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"An Ethical Dilemma : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2017\/07\/10\/an-ethical-dilemma\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"An Ethical Dilemma : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","og_description":"An Ethical Dilemma It was 1995 here in little Pataskala, Ohio. There was a local fight between a small faction that wanted to take over the school board, and the \u201cgood guys\u201d allied against them (guess which side I was on!!) It was ugly, at board meetings, in the newspapers, and even with threats of … Continue reading \"An Ethical Dilemma\"","og_url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2017\/07\/10\/an-ethical-dilemma\/","og_site_name":"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","article_publisher":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_author":"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","article_published_time":"2017-07-10T20:30:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-08-20T12:29:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":480,"height":640,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Marty Dahlman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@martydahlman","twitter_site":"@martydahlman","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marty Dahlman","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2017\/07\/10\/an-ethical-dilemma\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2017\/07\/10\/an-ethical-dilemma\/"},"author":{"name":"Marty Dahlman","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"headline":"An Ethical Dilemma","datePublished":"2017-07-10T20:30:26+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-20T12:29:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2017\/07\/10\/an-ethical-dilemma\/"},"wordCount":620,"commentCount":3,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2017\/07\/10\/an-ethical-dilemma\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2017\/07\/10\/an-ethical-dilemma\/","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2017\/07\/10\/an-ethical-dilemma\/","name":"An Ethical Dilemma : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-07-10T20:30:26+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-20T12:29:53+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2017\/07\/10\/an-ethical-dilemma\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2017\/07\/10\/an-ethical-dilemma\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2017\/07\/10\/an-ethical-dilemma\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"An Ethical Dilemma"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/","name":"Trump World - Essays on Politics and the Trump Administration","description":"Essays on Politics and Life in Our America","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c","name":"Marty Dahlman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1","width":480,"height":640,"caption":"Marty Dahlman"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1"},"description":"I'm Marty Dahlman. After forty years of teaching and coaching track and cross country, I've finally retired!!! I've also spent a lot of time in politics, working campaigns from local school elections to Presidential campaigns.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.dahlman.online","https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/","https:\/\/x.com\/martydahlman"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":306,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions\/306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}