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How Do You Vote? An Essay by James A Graves, Jr.
Voting is one of the most important rights and responsibilities that we have as Americans. The Republican form of government that established the United States of America only exists because of the American citizen’s right to vote. And the vote that you cast on Election Day is determined by how much you care about our Republic.
We hear political pundits and members of the media constantly referring to America’s “democracy”. James Bovard said, “Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.”
The Pledge of Allegiance that we recite while facing the American Flag with a hand salute (military salute or placing your hand over your heart) states in part, “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands…”
The American Republic is our government. The Republic is the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, and the three parts of the U.S. government that balances political power; the Legislative Branch, which makes the laws; the Executive Branch, which enforces the laws; and the Judicial Branch, which interprets the laws. That structure is designed to ensure a system of checks and balances among the branches; the Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court. We elect representatives from our respective counties and states to represent us in the Legislative Branch in our state government and federal government in Washington D.C.
I realize my statement ‘how much you care about our Republic’ puts a lot of responsibility on you, the voter, but we are told by many different people in many different ways that voting is the responsibility of every American citizen.
One of the best examples is a quote from President John F. Kennedy: “For in a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, 'hold office'; every one of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities. We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve.” I’ll give JFK a pass on the “democracy” part because that is such a great quote.Another great example is a quote from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Every man and every woman in this Nation regardless of party who have the right to register and to vote, and the opportunity to register and to vote, have also the sacred obligation to register and to vote. For the free and secret ballot is the real keystone of our American Constitutional system.”
Also, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said, “As a citizen, you need to know how to be a part of it, how to express yourself - and not just by voting.”
Justice O’Connor was obviously referring to getting involved in the political process. But, to be involved you certainly need to know what’s going on, and that has to begin with knowing how to vote. Not just knowing how to fill out the ballot and select the candidates of your choice, but knowing the history and political beliefs of the candidates and why you’re voting for those people.
The belief that the American voter should be well informed is well documented: In a speech for National Library Week in 1981, President Ronald Regan said, “If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, as Jefferson cautioned, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed.”
Thomas Jefferson, 3rd president of the United States, believed that the government has the responsibility to educate the masses. In 1787, in a letter to James Madison, Jefferson said, "And say, finally, whether peace is best preserved by giving energy to the government or information to the people. This last is the most certain and the most legitimate engine of government. Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. Enable them to see that it is their interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them. And it requires no very high degree of education to convince them of this. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty."
Jefferson was specifically addressing the lack of public schools in the early days of America, and the importance to educate all American citizens, which would also enable them to be informed voters.
However, some believe that it is the responsibility of the American People to educate themselves in political matters: In a Suffolk News-Herald article titled, "Being Informed is an American Responsibility”, published on August 14, 2017, Joseph L. Bass wrote, "Having educated, informed voters is a key element for a democracy to be effective. The people's votes can result in government going the right way or the wrong way. "...In nearly all cases involving bad government, the responsibility lies with the voters who did not fulfill their responsibilities as citizens. To avoid negative government, people must strive to inform and educate themselves on issues and events."
Howver, I believe that it is the government’s responsibility to educate American voters about the candidates. You may have noted that I underlined a phrase in President Kennedy’s quote, “…We, the people, are the boss,…” That is a very important point when considering the responsibilities of voting. We vote to elect someone to a particular political office. The term “elect” is synonymous with the term “hire”. We, as voters, are hiring someone to do a specific government job, i.e., mayor, schoolboard, sheriff, representative, senator, or president of the United States. WE are hiring a PERSON to fill a POSITION in government. If that person is elected, that person is working for US, the American voter.
I fail to understand why anyone should think that it is the voter’s responsibility to investigate political candidates to determine if they are qualified to do the job before we hire them.
For example: you apply for a job. When the employer asks to look at your resume, you reply, “I don’t have a resume, if you need to know if I’m qualified, you’ll have to gather all of that information yourself.”
What do you think will happen next?
If I were the employer, I would tell you that my company does not need your services and politely show you the exit.
And that’s how I feel when I look at the names of candidates listed on a sample ballot, then attempt to search for information about those candidates and discover that very little, if any, information about the candidates is available.
Why is the process of finding personal, professional and job qualification information on a political candidate suddenly my responsibility?
I’m not running for a political office, THEY are! THEY want me to hire THEM. I need to see THEIR resume. I’m not going to take a blank sheet of paper and set about building a political candidate’s resume. I’ve written resumes for myself many times. Each one it was difficult, and I know who I am and I know my qualifications.
I do my best to stay informed about the current issues of the day, political and otherwise. But somehow the process of becoming an informed voter has been inverted. The government, as well as each candidate, should provide the voters with a resume listing the personal and professional history of each candidate, as well as the qualifications for the office to which they are seeking to be elected. If seeking reelection, or running for a different office, the resume should include their previous voting record.
Once upon a time, all the candidates gathered at a local political rally and gave speeches to declare their history and qualifications. For the most part, those days are gone. Most politicians today travel solo, and speak at places where large crowds gather. We, as voters, often cannot travel to those events. Recent presidential debates are more akin to a circus than a political event, consequently, very little is actually learned about the candidates.
Today, TV, radio and printed media is tainted and untrustworthy, and social media is a mass of conflicting gibberish. With access to the internet via a computer, or a smartphone, one can find information on some of the candidates, but not all candidates have a website. Local supervisor of election websites are marginal sources of candidate information at best. It’s also important to point out that many voters do not have computers, or are not internet savvy enough to search out candidate information on a computer or a smartphone, even if a device is readily available.
I, like most American citizens, am proud to cast my vote in local, state and federal elections. But we need to be informed about the qualifications of the candidates before we can cast an informed vote. The responsibility of making candidate resumes available to voters falls on the candidates and the government that controls the elections.
A thorough knowledge of the qualifications of candidates to hold office is just as important as the issues that those elected officials will deal with while in office. There is a serious danger in not knowing what kind of person a politician is, and French President Charles de Gaulle summed it up perfectly when he said, "In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant."
We, the American voting public, need to know the candidates’ qualifications and what kind of people we’re electing, because we, the people, are the boss. We need to be able to identify those who are only pretending to be the servants of the people… and fire them. ©2025 J Graves, Jr.
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