Lorie Shaull, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
It is 2022 and the midterms are once again the central focus of American life. With the prevalence of Democratic incompetence in Washington, Republicans are poised to take control of the House and are in a tight race for the senate.
With this usual cycle, we are again seeing increased calls to “get out the vote!” Although this common phrase is often tied to political messaging in order to increase voter turnout for a particular party, it is also repeated independently of any political messaging. The celebratory “I voted!” stickers are worn by people on both sides of the aisle in a show of faux political virtue. A recent opinion piece by The Hill, for example, suggested making voting fun and celebratory in order to increase voter turnout.
This, of course, begs the question; why on earth would you want everyone to vote? I certainly don’t want everyone to vote. Why should we encourage emotional youth, indifferent adults, and irresponsible individuals to vote? The democratic process is vindicated by the leaders it elects, rather than the mere fact of people voting.
The idea that only virtuous individuals should vote seems like an elementary fact that would be grasped by any lover of self-government. The shift in our society towards virtue signaling over the simple fact of voting illustrates a profound shift in the philosophical and cultural landscape of our country.
The greatest men in our nation’s history have viewed the phenomenon of self-government as two-fold. Firstly, it means participation in the formation of our governments. Secondly, and perhaps more fundamentally, it means governing one’s passions in order to live a virtuous life. According to the late American political scientist Harry V. Jaffa, defenders of liberty such as Abraham Lincoln believed that republican government was synonymous with virtue. The former was built upon the foundations of the latter.
In our modern day, we have lost the second meaning of the word self-government. Displays of personal gratification and “pride” are celebrated much more than acts of self-restraint and virtue. Thus, we are left with the first definition of self-government, which is merely participation in the creation of a government.
However, without the foundations of virtue that support free institutions, voting is meaningless. Hitler came to power in a democracy, as did the National Assembly of the French Revolution. Those who unceasingly praise the gifts of democracy and lament the evils of slavery often forget that there was a time when a majority of Americans wished to keep there fellow men in chains.
The obsession with voting for voting’s sake is the symptom of a rotten conception of republican government. The mere expression of a person’s preferences is now seen as something to be celebrated.
I, for one, will hold off celebrating until I know what those preferences are.
