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When it comes to the matter of politics, the ultimate purpose of democracy is simple: to give the people a choice. And — for all its flaws — the United States has taken it upon itself to make this choice accessible, so that each person may throw their hat in the ring of democracy. Indeed, here in North Carolina, all one has to do after registering is to show up on time and bring a photo ID.
With accessibility comes a price, however. It’s easy to find yourself busy all the time, to prioritize more personal, immediately relevant tasks than researching local politics, but still feel compelled to find 30 minutes to go vote. This desire to contribute to our democracy is healthy — to be applauded, even. But, I caution against letting it sweep you away, to lead you to base voting decisions on baseline knowledge rather than direct, informed policy knowledge. Because though you have finite time and resources, informing yourself on the candidates you vote on is still worth it.
As conceived in Thomas Hobbes’s “Leviathan,” a government is validated and justified by the establishment of a social contract, an agreement between the government and governed, in which the governed makes the choice to surrender some of their rights in exchange for the protection of freedoms remaining.
In the U.S. political world, we see this idea of the social contract form: the policies presented by candidates act as the terms of the contract and your vote acts as a signature agreeing to them. Thus, voting without information is akin to signing blind, and much like physical contracts, ignorance to the terms of your social contract does not void it or absolve you of the consequences of signing.
Additionally, this ignorance does more than just keep you blind, it actively hinders your ability to choose. If you aren’t fully informed, you may very well be missing knowledge that would sway your decision, and if that’s the case, how can you confidently say that you’ve made a choice at all?
Drawing comparison to a similar principle in healthcare, there’s a reason why informed consent requires the patient to have full knowledge and understanding. How one receives care and what care one receives can shape years to come, if not the rest of their life. Allowing patients to make that decision with anything but full information would infringe on their autonomy, to the point of being misleading. Similarly, one’s choice in politics helps determine years of future governance.
Voting is one of the most impactful actions relative to its accessibility, so why shouldn’t you hold democracy to this same standard of informed consent?
Moreover, this lack of information has a much higher impact than one would think. Local politics often have a larger effect on one’s day-to-day life than national elections do, and yet, less Americans express care and feel informed about local issues compared to national politics.
This greater level of immediate impact makes uninformed voting especially concerning. One choice, one vote cast without full knowledge, will leave legacies for years to come, be it from something as simple as the filling of potholes to something as significant as educational reform. The Now You has a responsibility to the Later You, and that responsibility is to be informed.
Like it or not, your choice has an impact, and the fact of the matter is that you aren’t the only one who has to bear the consequences of uninformed voting. You have a responsibility to yourself and your future self, yes, but you also have a responsibility to the wider social conscience. The people affected by your lack of information are your children, and your neighbor and your neighbor’s children. Because like it or not, your choice matters, and whether or not that choice is informed matters. So don’t do yourself or your community a disservice out of convenience.
I’m not going to pretend that thorough political research isn’t arduous, bothersome or a million other words that mean “annoying” and “inconvenient,” because quite frankly, it is. Believe me, as a college student, I understand just how impossible it can feel to pull time out of thin air, and I find myself irritated when I have to do so, but I promise it’s well worth it. Nothing worth doing ever comes easy, and politics is no exception.
@dailytarheel | [email protected]
