Philosophers (including me) on the Ethics of Voting
I, and other philosophers, were recently interviewed by Quartz about the ethics of voting. The article is short, but an interesting read. I am, of course biased.
Here is the link:
Ethicists say voting with your heart, without a care about the consequences, is actually immoral
A Philosopher's Blog 
Cool that you were mentioned.
But doesn’t utilitarianism mean that you are OK with torturing a few people if it increases the overall well being?
So OK to kill and torture Republicans for the delight of the Progressives?
Yes, I would have to accept that if was known that torturing a few would result in the greater good, then it would be morally tolerable. However, the best evidence shows that torture is ineffective as a means of interrogation and its use creates more harm than good.
Harming Republicans to delight Progressives would be wrong.
I do temper my practical utilitarian approach with some virtue theory: some things are so horrible that they should not be done, no matter what.
However, the best evidence shows that torture is ineffective as a means of interrogation and its use creates more harm than good.
Simply not true.
Is torturing Republicans really so bad? 🙃
Depends on the torture. Depends on the Republican. Since Trump accepts water boarding, he would have to accept it would be morally okay for a foe of the US to waterboard him in defense of their country. But, I would still regard that as wrong.