Last week, one of my best friends got his American citizenship after years and years of preparation. After our in-class discussion of the utter irrationality that is the act of voting in America, I thought about David. David has spent countless hours advocating for U.S. candidates he believes in and campaigning for their success anywhere from local to national elections. This seems crazy given David could not even vote himself. Yet, he has and continues to be involved almost every day, regardless of election cycles. He even ran for student government in our high school. Why?
Under the assumptions made in the equation B+D-C≥0, I would argue David's "D" would indicate that he receives immense utility from the actions of his involvement in the political realm. I would go so far as to say that the expressive value of his involvement and "Americanness" outweighed his inability to actually cast a vote. I also firmly believe that his "D" will continue to be greater than 0 for his entire life suggesting that David will now vote any time and every time that he can as his expected utility will be greater than 0.
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