Doc 3

    I'm glad I wasn't the only one having issues with Doc 3. Not that I want anyone else to do poorly, but it makes me feel like less of an idiot when I'm not the only one feeling a little overwhelmed or stressed out. When I was reading Dante's post, for example, I could strongly relate. I chose a subject that wasn't very easy to understand the first way through, either. Thankfully, some of the sources I used helped me to understand part of what was going on in the text.
    And like Krystyna said in her post, what made me stay focused was that looming deadline. I wanted to at least have something readable by the deadline. My main issue was just trying not to get distracted, though, rather than real life events interrupting my writing. That and finding sources.
   But there was also balancing the work for this class with the work for my other classes, which was something Kimberly noted as an issue. Whenever you're dealing with one difficult assignment is always when your other classes decide to assign their own difficult work. Seriously, it's like the professors conspire behind our backs just to make us all more stressed.
  In the end, I probably did terribly, but for the moment, I don't even want to think about it. I just want to enjoy what little free time there is before classes resume.

Other Perspectives

    I've said my piece on the presidential candidates, but it's interesting to see what everyone else thinks. While some people (including me, I suppose) think Ben Carson appears to have the best ethical standards of the presidential candidates, not everyone agrees. Krystyna Owings made a good blog post talking about why she disagreed. Her point seemed to be that although he appears as more virtuous than some of the other candidates, he may not be. She said, "Although Dr. Carson may seem like a ethical candidate on the surface, I have to wonder if we need to dig deeper to find out his truths."
   On the other side of the matter, Dante Hancock made an equally good blog post discussing why he thought Dr. Carson had the best set of ethical standards. He saw Dr. Carson's experience in surgery and his humble appearance as why Dr. Carson has better ethical standards. Dante specifically said that, during the Republican debate, "Even though he was yelled at over and over again, Carson remained humble and quiet."
   It's nice to see that everyone has different opinions on this whole topic. I might not be as into politics as most people, but they say diversity is the spice of life. Getting to hear everyone's opinions and comparing them is part of what makes this class fun and it helps me see some of the concepts we learn in a different light.

Presidential Candidates

I'm going to admit, before I really get into anything, that I don't really follow politics. That also includes the presidential race. It's not that I don't think it's important, but for me, I don't really think any of the candidates are that great and I'm already a bit tired of the campaign ads and such.
That said, if I had to say which one of them seemed to have the most firm ethical standards, it seems like Carson. He seems pretty in touch with his own personal code of ethics.
On the other end of the spectrum, the candidate with the most relativistic and situational ethics to me seems like Trump. Right now, a lot of people have disdain for him because of how harsh and eccentric he is. But, Machiavelli says in The Prince that, '...in seizing a state, the usurper ought to examine closely into all those injuries which it is necessary for him to inflict, and to do them all at one stroke so as not to have to repeat them daily; and thus by not unsettling men he will be able to reassure them, and win them to himself by benefits.' It could be that Trump will mellow out if he is elected, and the people will mostly forget about his present actions. And, people also consider his remarks on immigration to sound exceptionally cruel and fear what legislation he might enact while in office, but Machiavelli also says '...it is far safer to be feared than loved if you cannot be both.' And, not to sound rude, but it's hard for me to see Trump as being loved, considering the current backlash against his campaign.
It's hard to say which kind of ethics is better for a president. On the one hand, people want a president to act ethically, but on the other hand, a president should be a strong leader, and some would say that a strong president would do what is needed, even ignoring the law in doing so. But I think I'd rather have a president who didn't have more situational ethics because I'd be worried that he/she would be more of a dictator than a president.