AS GUAM’s tiempon botasion is fast approaching and you can’t go to a rosary, funeral or car wash without bumping into someone running for political office, it is time for everyone on Guam to dust off two important ideological boxes. The first is full of the reasons for which they will support certain candidates. It is full of intelligent sounding arguments and thoughtful rhetoric about the importance of participating in Guam’s democracy and being an informed voter. The second box is full of all the reasons why you might really vote for a candidate, but those aren’t the things that you would probably want to share with others. The second box is full of things that are silly and superficial.

In a democracy, it is often stated that every vote counts, and so each vote should be taken seriously. A healthy democracy has an educated and informed electorate. This is the ideal, but very far from the reality of most democracies. In truth, you get to vote even if you aren’t informed about anything. You could go to vote in November thinking that every Democrat in the Legislature is selling the island to China and must be stopped, and your vote is still supposed to count.

I always find it interesting how in every election year, the same angry chorus is heard: vote the bums out, yute’ i mantaisetbe! Get rid of the useless politicians and only vote in people who are hardworking, principled and every other positive thing you might want in your local politician. Despite this chorus, so many people get re-elected and the grumbling continues. The most articulate of the grumblers like to argue that everyone who doesn’t see things the way they do is foolishly duped or receiving jobs or free street lights for their votes.

For me the answer isn’t so nefarious. Maybe most people actually like those politicians and don’t agree with the angry, loud minority calling for a clean slate. Or maybe it is a simple matter of the gap between the reasons why we might publicly assert voting for someone, and the private reasons that actually guide our hands to certain ovals? In a serious conversation you aren’t supposed to claim that you are voting for someone because they are really tall. But when you are alone in the booth, no one is there to judge you. You can vote for someone because you feel sorry for them, you liked their signs, you like their name, you think they might look good in a speedo, and #1 superficial reason, the idea that they are going to win anyway and so you might as well join the victory train.

In the past, you could argue that you were voting for someone because they were related to you, but Guam has changed quite a bit. Nowadays you aren’t just supposed to vote for people out of blind loyalty to party or family. The clan and village structure that gave so much vibrancy to the politics of the past sometimes play a role in getting people elected today, but family ties have slowly been placed in the second box of ideological reasons. Your vote is sacred; you aren’t just supposed to give it to people because of some arbitrary genetic link. Right?

That first box of reasons is supposed to reflect the rational part of each voter. It is supposed to establish that they understand the importance of their vote and make clear that they have a polished and well-thought-out system for determining who should get their precious vote. The first box is meant to provide evidence that you are worthy of having that vote, and that you won’t waste it by voting for someone based on “unenlightened” reasons.

Does voting for your relatives truly belong in the second box? In an “American” framework yes, but I would argue that if you cast your vote not just out of simple blind loyalty, voting for your relatives can be a very rational choice and on Guam we should count it in the first box. That first box tends to be filled with attempts to intellectually know a candidate, but through very little solid evidence. You craft an ideological personality for a candidate when often all you know about him or her is the slogan on their signs. What you say can sounds smart, but the appealing surface of it can belie the lack of depth to your conviction. It is for that reason that I would argue voting for your primu or your prima, someone who you may know in a very real way is absolutely a first box reason when picking a gåyu. It is certainly better than voting for candidates based on their shoes, their hair and their smile, which are things on which people often base their vote.