Every year that passes grants new privileges and responsibilities. The two come in pairs; you cannot have one without the other. As American citizens, we have inherent privileges and responsibilities to both our nation and our posterity. We are free to own land, to vote, to pursue happiness; rights that many across the globe still don’t have today. However, these rights come with responsibilities. Among these duties are signing up for the draft [please see Editor’s Note below], serving jury duty, and following laws. But the core duty of being an American citizen is voting. Voting is both a privilege and a right, certainly not something to be taken lightly.
Voting is a privilege we have not always had. I’m sure everyone reading this has heard the phrase “taxation without representation,” but if you haven’t, in the context of America, it meant that the 13 American Colonies were being unfairly taxed without any representation in the English Parliament. This was unjust. Early Americans had no say in what happened to them– so they fought back.
Then, it was only land-owning white men who could vote. Through later amendments to the U.S. Constitution, all its citizens were given the right to vote. But why? Why are we as a nation so fixated on the ideals and responsibilities of voting? Wouldn’t it just be easier to sit back and watch everything happen around us? We, as humans, have certain unalienable rights. This means that no matter what, we cannot be separated from these rights. Thomas Jefferson named these as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This means we have the right to live our lives our way; we, as Americans, have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If the government gets in the way of that or doesn’t serve the people as the people see fit, then the people have the right to change things through voting. This is the fundamental core of our nation’s democracy.
Voting may be difficult. Knowing what to choose may seem intimidating. But when it comes time for you to vote, remember that you have the power to shape your life and that no one can take that away from you. You choose your future– and the future of our country.
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Editor’s Note: The Military Selective Service Act (MSSA: 50 U.S.C. §§3801 et seq.) provides statutory authority for the federal government to maintain an independent Selective Service Agency responsible for managing the Selective Service System (SSS) and for providing qualified civilian men for induction into the U.S. Armed Forces if authorized by Congress and the President. Under the MSSA, all male U.S. citizens and most male noncitizen residents of the United States between the ages of 18 and 26 are required to proactively register with the SSS under 50 U.S.C. §3802. Women are not required to register.
