Mordechai Treiger | Voting while you shop

Everybody knows that Tuesday is Election Day. But it's a mistake to think that it happens only once every four years. In fact, you vote nearly every day.

And unlike ACORN, you're not just trying to destroy the fabric of American democracy.

There are striking parallels between what Americans do in the voting booth and what they do in the shopping aisle. Every time they choose one product over another, Americans cast a vote as closely monitored - and arguably, as important - as any presidential horse race.

But Tuesday morning, why not just sleep in?

Considering all the effort and deliberation that goes into a single vote, it isn't always clear why we bother. It takes only one vote to swing an election, but the chance that the outcome will actually turn on an individual is vanishingly small.

"If you are rationally self-interested, you shouldn't vote, because the chance of affecting the outcome is so low that . it's not worth crossing the street," said Psychology professor Jonathan Baron.

And while it's true that for many, the cost of voting is higher than the reward, the majority of Americans will still manage to find a reason to drag themselves to the booth on Tuesday.

Baron thinks that although many people know they are not likely to make a difference, they still vote out of a sense of moral obligation.

And the thing about morality is that it extends to every decision we make, not just the one to vote. There's no reason why we can't register those preferences in the checkout line as well.

Both the market and elections measure the collective decisions of millions of individuals. Think of the marketplace as an enormous, never-ending straw poll, in which votes are cast not for politicians but for products.

While consumers deciding between Pepsi or Coke might never bring the battle to expand America's waistline to a satisfying conclusion, each vote they cast is more likely to have a measurable effect.

That's because in a competitive marketplace, companies can be extremely sensitive to small swings in demand and adjust supply accordingly. In a way, a registered voter can actually exercise more clout simply as a consumer.

Given the resources put into political elections, it isn't surprising that people associate voting with booths and not with aisles.

"At this point in history, there are fewer institutions that signal back to the consumer the efficacy of [his] actions, as compared with the whole set of institutions sanctioned by the state that are designed to encourage voting," said Political Science professor Richard Johnston. "Elections are designed to elicit participation from voters: There are deadlines, there are structured situations, polls and now increasingly, mail-in ballots."

And that bias isn't necessarily a bad thing.

"That voting mentality, that 'I know my voice is going to be small but I'm still going to do the right thing', is perhaps a type of civic virtue that is practicable in the sense that people do do it. It's just a question of extending it," said Political Science professor Jeff Green.

Extending it is above all a matter of personal awareness. Too often, we make decisions without really dwelling on the consequences.

But our actions do have consequences. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the water we drink - all these things were grown, sewn and flown.

While you might not single-handedly end factory farming or child labor, that doesn't mean your choice to buy according to your issue - buy American, buy local, buy organic or even not buy at all - will go unnoticed.

So the next time you go shopping, take a moment to really consider just what you put into your cart.

And whatever you do, don't forget to vote.

Mordechai Treiger is a College junior from Seattle, and can be reached at treiger@dailypennsylvanian.com. Fridays with Mordi appears on alternating Fridays.

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