I’m taking Medical Ethics this semester. Each week we read opposing pieces on various topics in medical ethics. If there’s anything the class has taught me it’s to despair that there’s anyone qualified to make these kind of public policy decisions. I know there are all sorts of people who think they are, but I just don’t think they are.

I’ve always thought that the ignorant masses should be kept away from the political process. We should just convince ignorant people that they have a say, and then let the educated people make the real decisions. When it comes to medical ethics, education is better than ignorance, but I feel like neither one is good enough. We can do so much now with technology and we don’t know whether we should, or which things we should do. The difficulty has always been there, but now it’s amplified because our abilities are so much greater.

“This is the meaning of Morton Grodzin’s profound remark: ‘All patriots are potential traitors.’ The secret of their patriotism is also the secret of their treason: they are committed to ‘business of a public character,’ but not always to the same piece of business or kind of business as are the authorities.”

- Michael Walzer, Obligations: Essays on Disobedience, War and Citizenship