Citizen Americans Should Have The Right To Vote Essay

The concept of selling one’s vote, while technically free exchange and perceived as beneficial for both parties, should not be allowed in America because it encourages a lack of virtue and responsibility which is essential for America’s government. Moreover, a vote is not just about self-interest in terms of short-term monetary return. A system that is based only on momentary gain cannot be sustained in the long-run. In voting, we have a duty to preserve the voting system itself for our own future and for generations to come; auctioning that right to the highest bidder undermines every other component of the system that supports the right to vote to begin with.
Society is built on a balance between individual rights and the public good. While the concept of selling votes promotes individual rights, the practice damages the idea of the people’s virtue. Because the government receives its authority by the consent of the people, citizens need to feel responsible for the outcome of government. Their votes are essential to the system. By exchanging their duty to the country for some form of self-interest—whether direct monetary compensation or promised benefits—citizens selling their votes degrade the moral system in which America’s foundation stands. The government and the people are directly correlated in that by …show more content…
Since citizens and the government are dependent on each other to work effectively, it can be interpreted that the importance of this organization lies beyond the individual and rests with the public. The public’s job, as a whole, is to promote a somewhat utilitarian perspective of producing the most good for the most people while not trampling on the inalienable rights of the individual. Thus the obligation of voting for representatives is an individual’s duty to both the government and the body of citizens in America in return for the individual’s rights in other