"and all the advantages of cool deliberation"

“and all the advantages of cool deliberation”

                                Thomas Paine, December 1778

                  A Serious Address to the People of Pennsylvania

            In a response to a letter from Conrad Alexander Gerard, French Prime Minister to the United States, Thomas Paine included material about how the particular form of our” new constitution had not then been made a matter of controversy; so that the members meet unbiased, unprejudiced, and unawed by party influence, and all the advantages of cool deliberation.”

I bring this up because you as an educated citizen, need to strive for your vote in an “unbiased, unprejudiced and unawed…and all the advantages of cool deliberation. 

Because you as a citizen need to make an educated decision upon the votes placed before you, being objective about the material is an obligation.  Try not to go into any vote carrying the burden of your entire friend’s opinions, TV ads, signs, opinion polls, etc.  You need to gather the evidence listening to all the evidence with an open-mind, not a mind that has been charged with political rhetoric, but with facts, hardened with evidence.  This takes time.  Research is the key element.  You must trust your resources, commentators, political news, then weigh the evidence so you feel comfortable about your decision.  This is what gives you “all the advantages of cool deliberation”.

What about political affiliation?  Yes, people stand behind their party’s convictions, however, by keeping an open mind; you should be able to weigh those convictions against facts and your hypothesis about the issue.  It is at that point that you make your decision.  The conviction should be strong enough so you feel “all the advantages of cool deliberation”