New Argentine Citizen to Vote in Midterms Despite Candidate Doubts

Agustina Vergara Cid will cast her first ballot in the United States this Tuesday. She became a U.S. citizen last year after living in the country since 2017. The columnist for the Southern California News Group says she will vote even though she does not feel strong enthusiasm for any current candidate.

Vergara Cid notes that voting is a personal choice in the United States. She contrasts this with her experience in Argentina, where voting is mandatory for citizens aged 18 to 70. In her home country, she recalls waiting in long lines on election Sundays. She describes the candidate options there as limited, with most contenders holding collectivist views during years of Peronist rule.

She lived in the United States for eight years without the right to vote. During that time, she built a career and a family while being subject to laws she could not influence. She states that she could speak and write about policy but could not participate in selecting the lawmakers. Becoming a citizen allowed her to move from watching from afar to active participation.

Vergara Cid argues that no realistic candidate in this election fully champions the protection of individual rights. She views this founding principle as a political rarity. Nevertheless, she plans to vote by choice rather than out of state obligation.

She cites the Declaration of Independence in her reasoning. The document states that governments derive just powers from the consent of the governed. She interprets this to mean that voters choose agents to exercise delegated powers. She believes this relationship places the government in service of the individual.

Vergara Cid acknowledges that voting does not automatically make a government legitimate. She says protecting individual rights is the primary function of a free state. She adds that speaking up and exercising First Amendment rights are essential tools for preserving American principles.

She believes the idea of individual rights has lost ground in American culture. She sees it as the duty of citizens and residents to advocate for these concepts. She plans to drive to work after voting to continue making the case for the ideas that attracted her to the country. Her goal is to see those ideas represented on future ballots.