Volume 18
Issue
S
Date
2020

Voting as a Duty of Common Pursuit

by Julia Maskivker

This essay argues in favor of a moral duty to vote as an example of a duty of aid toward our fellow citizens in society.  I show that voting as an individual act is perfectly rational because voting is a duty of common pursuit. Moreover, I claim that said duty is not morally trivial simply because other ways of helping others exist, which could conceivably be more effective from an individual standpoint (in the sense that they do not require collective action, or much collective action, to achieve an outcome). The essays also argues that voting is a weighty duty (all else being equal) even if other forms of political participation can, arguably, contribute to helping others and society by enabling fair governments to gain power.

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