Today, I’d like to talk about how you should vote. Please know that I’m not trying to tell you which party or which person to vote for. Instead, I simply want to share a few ideas to make you think through the process of how you vote. I’ve found that most people don’t put much thought into who they vote for.
They base their decision off advertisements, debates, and their political party. Even worse, a huge percentage of Americans don’t vote at all! I think every eligible American should vote. It is fundamentally one of our most important rights. If we don’t vote, we could one day lose our freedom to vote.
Many people will tell you that their vote doesn’t matter. If it was just one or two people in America saying this, I would agree. But, the problem is that tens of millions of registered voters don’t vote, because they think their vote doesn’t matter. Sometimes you wonder how an election would turn out if everyone did vote.
So, my first challenge to you is to always vote at local, state, and federal elections. My second challenge is to put some thought into your vote. Spend a few hours and research the candidates and the issues. Make a list of things that are most important to you and evaluate the candidates based upon those issues. To explain what I mean, I’ll share my top 10 criteria I use to evaluate our current candidates.
Here is my list:
- Improving the Economy
- Balancing the Federal Budget
- Controlled Government Spending and Smaller Government
- Flat Rate Income Tax for all
- Term Limits for all Politicians
- Less Government Regulations for Businesses
- Reduction or elimination of government social programs
- Reform Social Security
- The Importance of Individual Rights and Private Property
- Modifying our current stand on Foreign Policy
This is the list I use to evaluate each candidate. Once again, I’m just showing you an example. I’m not trying to tell you what to think. Please know that candidates’ views, even in the same political party, can vary greatly. So, you have to do your research and find out what each person stands for. You can do this by visiting their individual websites, listening to debates, and reading publications. Don’t just show up on election-day and vote for someone you know nothing about.
Obviously, what is important to you will be different than what is important to me. I respect that. So, make your own list and then do your research. You might be surprised at what you find out.
You have to remember that the people we vote for “run our country.” So, make sure you select the best qualified person (based on your criteria and values). I recommend you spend at least 4-5 hours researching ALL of the candidates and evaluate them in accordance with your list. After you do that, you should have
a great idea about who you should vote for. Sometimes this person will be in your affiliated political party and
sometimes they won’t. And remember, your vote does count.
