On How to Avoid Moral Dilemmas in Politics

(Wonkish. Paper written for a course on ethics at Harvard)

First of all, let me state up front that I believe many leaders and politicians have had “to learn how not to be good” (Machiavelli, The Prince), and then done wrong, in order to succeed in their respective fields or situations. This however does not imply by any means that such leaders were faced with equally compelling moral choices, nor that they chose wisely.