I will consider in this post the act of voting as an act of parental responsibility.
As a parent I am responsible for my child in way that I am not responsible for the children of others. My parental responsibility does not erase my obligation to respond to the needs of others in society, for I am responsible for them as well, and they for me. Cain was wrong: we are keepers of our bothers and sisters, neighbors and even enemies, but we are especially the keepers of our children.
Parental responsibility extends beyond the boundaries of the home: the child obligates the parent when the parent decides what occupation to take, where they will live, who will educate the children, and how they will worship. The extension of this special responsibility continues into the parent’s political involvement. This especially great responsibility – the responsibility a parent has for her own child that she doesn’t have for other children – weighs upon the parent in the voting booth.
This weight adds gravity to certain issues that may not be as grave as they would be otherwise. Homeschooling families would be more greatly affected by a requirement that children be publicly educated than would families that already use public schools. A parent whose child has shown severe susceptibility to violent reactions from vaccinations would have more cause for concern about enforced vaccinations than parents whose children have shown no problems after receiving vaccinations.
In the political sphere, some issues are objectively of graver importance than others. The subjective factor of parental responsibility may reorder that hierarchy for each voting parent.
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