The Voter's Natural Bent
| Author | J.T. Salter |
| Published date | 01 March 1952 |
| Date | 01 March 1952 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000271625228000103 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
9
The
Voter’s
Natural
Bent
By
J.
T.
SALTER
THE
subject
of
this
paper
is
the
voter.
That
is
like
saying
that
my
subject
is
American
civilization.
For
politics
may
be
equated
with
life.
It
is
not
a
detail;
it
is
life.
And
voting,
or
failing
to
vote,
is
an
expression
of
that
life.
To
know
the
reasons
why
an
in-
dividual
marks
his ballot
as
he
does
is
to
have
an
insight
into
the
innermost
recesses
of
that
individual.
Voting
tends
to
make
a
man
thoughtful;
it
challenges
him
to
examine
the
record,
to
get
the
facts,
to
put
two
and
two
to-
gether,
to
take
a
stand-and
that
means
to
stand
off
in
the
privacy
of
a
polling
booth
and
tell
what
the
facts
mean.
Election
day
itself
is
only
an
official
interruption
of
an
endless
process.
This
interval
of
several
minutes
is
for
the
purpose
of
letting
a
voter
make
a
record
of
his
opinions
on
the
candidates
and
the
issues
that
he
has
been
listening
to
and
thinking
about
for
a
long
time
and
relating
them
to
a
sense
of
himself
and
the
community
he
lives
in.
The
official
ritual
of
standing
within
the
isolated
polling
booth
helps
the
citizen
focus
his
impressions
and
makes
him
give
them
direction.
To
do
this
he
must
think
of
something
beyond
his
own
skin
and
bones;
he
is
reminded
that
he
is
not
living
alone.
He
uses
his
vote
for
the
state,
the
public-not
for
a
private
in-
terest.
Grover
Cleveland
well
said:
&dquo;Your
every
voter,
as
surely
as
your
chief
magistrate,
exercises
a
public
trust.&dquo;
DIGNITY
OF
VOTING
In
one
way
or
another
on
election
day
the
American
voter
considers
the
old
question-Am
I
my
brother’s
keeper?
Thus
voting
has
both
a
civic
and
a
spiritual
significance.
It
is
a
process
that
nourishes
the
human
being
and
helps
him
behave
like
a
free
man
in
a
free
society.
To
mark
a
ballot
is
to
belong
to
the
society
of
which
one
is
a
part.
To
mark
a
ballot
is
twice
important.
It
helps
the
government
to
know
what
the
people
are
thinking:
it
helps
the
indi-
vidual
to
feel
that
he
is
important
and
a
part
of
the
government;
the
consensus
is
then
one
that
he
accepts.
To
keep
a
citizen
from
voting
is
a
crime
against
personality.
Such
action
thwarts
the
development
of
personality
and
weakens
the
government-weakens
the
social
structure.
The
South,
for
example,
is
weaker
because
fewer
peo-
ple
vote.
There
is
something
healthy
about
numbers
in
politics.
Thomas
Jefferson
once
remarked
that that
gov-
ernment
is
strongest
of
which
every
man
feels
himself
a
part.
One
cannot
feel
himself
a
part
if
his
opinion
is
not
asked.
He
may
not
vote,
but
no
man
wants
to
be
unfairly
denied
the
free-
dom
to
decide.
That
is
what
freedom
is.
In
1947,
while
waiting
at
a
rural
bus
stop
in
a
Southern
state,
I
asked
a
young
colored
man
and
woman
if
they
intended
to
vote
for
Truman
in
1948.
They
remained
silent,
and
as
the
bus
came,
I
repeated
my
question.
The
woman
partly
turned
as
she
was
get-
ting
on
the
bus
and
softly
said,
&dquo;You
see
we
are
kinda
delicate
about
poli-
tics.&dquo;
When
one
set
of
Americans
makes
another
set
of
Americans
&dquo;kinda
delicate
about
politics,&dquo;
all
America
suffers.
Voting
is
a
substantial
part
of
a
man’s
freedom.
It
is
more
than
a
symbol;
it
is
the
idea
and
the
personality
focused
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