Ten Commandments for Voters

How to elect the leader of the state and not to lament in the kitchen for the next years.

Choose by your head

Choose by your head, not by “soul” or “heart”, as some candidates urge. Voting by your heart ends sad – after all such “cardio-plebiscites” wounds are left on the heart of the voter, and these wounds won’t heal in the next 4-5 years. Candidates for presidency who have the greatest concern about use of voters’ souls in the election process, secretly hope that you would vote by any other body part except your head.

Forget about the word “charisma”

The absolute majority of politicians who have this “charisma” are either downright rascals or people who have lost a sense of reality because of their arrogance. Vaclav Havel or Nelson Mandela did not have charisma, however they had an unyielding will, exceptional decency and pathologic honesty. The list of charismatic politicians is headed by Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Saddam Hussein… If you want a non-stop Halloween – vote for a charismatic, if Christmas or Easter – choose a normal person.

Vote for peace, not for war

Choose a politician who offers a peaceful future, and not settling scores with enemies. Law-enforcing agencies should seek just retaliation, and not leaders of the state. Their work is to push for balanced decisions, consensus in the society and repudiation of any confrontation. Leaders who have come to power with the programme “to find those responsible for everything” can find them easily, first among oppositionists, and then in their milieu, and then “they will come to you.”

Use your imagination

Evaluating a presidential aspirant, use you imagination. For instance, imagine him beside the British Queen. If he looks natural and decent, vote for him. And if in your mind’s eye he pinched Her Majesty, straightened her crown, told an obscene joke or presented an ABC book – do not even read his electoral programme. In reality he would pinch, tell obscenities and present ABC books, and you would feel ashamed for him extremely.

Think about your family

Choosing a new president, think first of all about your concrete family, not about the abstract state. Think about its future and financial situation, about security and opening opportunities, about education of your children and protection of your parents. You should know that the only way to improve the life of your family is to make the right choice.

Have doubts

Doubt is a way for knowledge. Trust yourself and your feelings, trust candidates and their programmes, trust your family and friends. Trust, but have doubts. You will cast the vote yourselves, so you should make your own conclusions. Ask questions and get answers; talk to experiences people whom you believe; study programmes of the candidates and information about them on the web. If you stop doubting you would choose a demagogue, the one who promises most, but would do nothing.

Talk to people

Talk to people constantly. Firstly, you would be able to collect more information about the candidates, and secondly, that would allow you to feel that you are not alone with your views, and thirdly, you would learn many new things about the people you live beside.

Search your memory

If you want to cast your vote for some candidate, recall what he had been doing in the previous years: what he has done for the country, what he has been saying, his behaviour in different situations. Remember that his behaviour is unlikely to change when he is at the wheel, and some negative personality traits would take a pathologic form.

Defend your choice

After casting your vote, to not expect your vote to be counted correctly. The authorities always make a mistake to own advantage, so be ready to defend your right for choice. To the best of your ability, control the correctness of the votes count procedure. Talk to members of the commission, urge them to perform their duties honestly. Come to the square after the election, for election commissions to understand that their actions are controlled by the society. Do not allow to deceive yourself.

Do not be a fool

Be clever – it is your life, and no one has a right to erase years and years from it.

Nikoai Khalezin, kilgor-trautt