Voter Turnout, Part Two: So why do people who vote, actually vote?

Because they see things entirely differently than the person that doesn't vote...or maybe just differently enough. 

Because they feel a sense of responsibility. 

Because they feel a sense of obligation.

Because they feel a sense of civic duty. 

For the most part, the consistent voter (and by association, the voter who joins their local neighbourhood association, who is active in their community), casting a ballot isn't some overwrought thought process. 

I believe that it's instinctive. 

It's like loving someone. You don't go all angsty over it...you just do it. (Or you don't, in which case the conversation is moot.)

If you ask a person committed to fitness, dedicated to taking care of themselves why they do what they do, you might get as many different answers as there are people canvassed. 

Some do what they do because they want to compete in a sport or two. 

Some do what they do because of specific health benefits. 

Some do what they do because it's part of a comprehensive effort to enrich their lives. The endorphins, the adrenaline, the mental buzz. The high. 

Some just aim to fend off the inevitable ravages of Time. 

But no matter the answers, one thing is bound to be consistent, even though it's something you'll probably have to extrapolate from what you're told, rather than it being declared straight-out: the person who predicates their day-to-day existence on eating right, staying active, making the most of their physicality will have –at least in this arena– a wholly different value system from the person that overeats, is sedentary, and has detached themselves from their physical selves. 

The same goes for personal finance. The person who spends wisely, invests wisely, saves wisely will more than likely have a wholly different value system from the person who lives from paycheque to paycheque, who constantly has their overdraft maxxed-out, who's in debt up to their ears. 

Some parents are simply more involved in their children's upbringing. They participate more, they contribute more, they invest more...they're more engaged.

Now for each of these situations, there are myriad reasons as to why one person ends up with fitness at the core of their existence and why another doesn't. Why one person ends up being more 'responsible' with money than the one who's spendthrift. Or why one parent is 'present', while another is functionally absent. Sometimes it has to do with upbringing, sometimes not. Sometimes it has to do with influences while growing up, sometimes not. Sometimes the tendencies are innate, sometimes they're result of long-unfolding circumstances or fortuitous interludes.

And more than likely, the same can be said for those who vote, those who choose to get involved in their local governance process: a wholly different value system reigns.  




M Adrian Brassington