Voting is a Precious Right: Use This Framework For Choosing Whom to Vote For.

Voting is a Precious Right:  Use This Framework For Choosing Whom to Vote For.

Have you decided to vote during the presidential election on November 6th?  If you have, how did you choose whom to support with your vote?  And if you haven't decided yet, how will you choose whom to support?

Will you vote because of your party affiliation – regardless of the candidate’s qualifications and platform?  Will you vote for one candidate because you just can't stand the other candidate?  Or will your decision be the outcome of a rational analysis of the candidates’ positions, qualifications and experience?

  

In this note I will explain why it is essential that every American exercise the right to vote.   Then I will provide criteria to help you make a rational decision.  I am not interested in persuading you to vote in favor of Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, rather I want you to understand how to use a rational decision-making process so that your valuable vote will be the result of a well thought analysis and decision.

Here in the United States voting is a right, not a legal obligation.  Yet, our daily lives are so impacted by the results of the political process that voting is definitely one of the greatest civic responsibilities and moral obligations that each and every citizen must carry out.   From an early age we were taught to proudly and solemnly repeat:  “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States and to the republic for which it stands… “And so on.  If we indeed claim and offer allegiance to the republic then we must exercise the right to vote.  Voting is a right that unfortunately many American citizens ignore and fail to exercise.  Millions of people in other countries are deprived from this right, are fighting for this right and are willing to give their lives for the precious right.

As someone who adopted the US citizenship after living many years as an adult immigrant I still cannot understand why here in America only about 50 to 60% of the eligible voters exercise their right to vote in presidential elections. (The absenteeism is substantially higher for local and state elections that do not coincide with the presidential elections.)  When voting rights are taken for granted and are disregarded by ignoring them, it is easy to forget how fundamental and essential they are in order to strengthen and maintain the privileged and much envied democratic and economic way of life that we have.

If you are not happy with education policies and the academic results, with healthcare access and costs, with environmental policies or social security benefits policies, then you must let your voice and opinion be heard and amplified through your vote participation.

Once you realize that voting is indeed a very important and personal right, you may ask, “How do I make a rational decision when choosing whom to vote for?”

We should not vote just for the candidate who spends the most money on television advertisements, nor for the candidate from the party that our family or entire generation has always supported, nor for the candidate that our friends seem to support the most. 

I suggest that you must establish a comprehensive list of criteria that reflect your important values and beliefs related to government and political leadership.  Then you can assign points (on a scale of 1 to 10) to each candidate based upon your assessment of their compliance and agreement with the criteria elements that you created.  Add the resulting points and the candidate with the highest points gets your vote.  This is an old decision making approach used by Benjamin Franklin back in the 1780’s.  If you want to refine it you can assign weights (to account for the higher importance that a criteria may have over others) and get a weighted ranking.

What criteria elements should you use?  There are at least four categories of criteria elements.  You can formulate specific questions to further define the criterion.

First, government/political ideas:

            Do you agree with the candidate’s economic policies for jobs creation, growth, taxes, deficit, health care, social security, energy, military spending? 

            Do you like the political views about government involvement, assistance to individuals?

            Do you agree with foreign policies: involvement vs. isolationism, leadership in international mediation, foreign assistance

Second, personal/moral beliefs and values:

            Do you agree with the candidate’s stated personal/moral views regarding (abortion, gender equality, immigration), ethics.

Third, role of the USA in the world:

            Do we agree with the views on international peace, environmental future, sustainability, economic and humankind vision?

Fourth: leadership, credibility, presidential representation

            Does the candidate have the ability to lead congress and get the job done?

            Will you feel confident and proud of having him as the President of the USA?

You can customize these criteria to reflect your own specific and key personal issues and values.  And you can assign different weights if you want to reflect differences in the ranking and importance of the criteria.  The table below provides an example of specific criteria.  (You can modify it to add/delete criteria that you feel are essential to your voting decision process.)  

There is still time to get more educated, if necessary, about the candidate’s platforms and positions.  You can go directly to the candidates’ websites (barackobama.com and mittromney.com) to find more information and to learn about the candidates’ positions in order to assess the candidates and assign points to each decision criteria.

Once you have developed and completed your decision criteria table you can talk to your friends about the importance of voting and invite them to develop their own decision-making criteria.  You may want to find out the voting location closest to you and either vote early or plan to vote on November 6^th.  This is your opportunity to be counted as one of the pillars of democracy in America. 

Issues	Barack Obama (0 to 10 points)	Mitt Romney (0 to 10 points)
1. Do I agree with the candidate’s policies for job creation?
2. Do I agree with the candidate’s policies for economic growth?
3. Do I agree with the candidate’s policies for taxes?
4. Do I agree with the candidate’s policies for provision of health care?
5. Do I agree with the candidate’s policies for energy?
6. Do I agree with the candidate’s policies for military spending?
7. Do I agree with the candidate’s philosophy about government role, size, involvement, safety net?
5. Do I agree with the candidate’s philosophy about regulation?
6. Do I agree with the candidate’s philosophy about foreign policy? (Isolation/involvement, leadership, foreign assistance)
7. Do I agree with the candidate’s views on moral issues (abortion, gender equality)?
8. Do I agree with the candidate’s views on immigration?
9. Do I agree with the candidate’s views about international peace and economic growth?
10. Do I agree with the candidate’s views about the environment/sustainability?
11. Do I agree with the candidate’s views about international development and global welfare?
12. Does the candidate exhibit leadership and credibility to get the job done?
13. Do I feel confident and proud of having this candidate as the President of the USA?
(Add, if necessary, other criteria that you feel are an essential part of your voting decision criteria)
Total Points