Our Responsibility as Voters

I had this epiphany as we were driving home from our trip on the 21^st of July. 

As a citizenry of the USA, we have to be responsible when we are voting for potential leaders.  Our obligation is not just to understand the candidate’s stand on various issues.  Our obligation is to understand the provisions of the Constitution of the United States.  We have an obligation when we elect a president to decide if that person can successfully recuse himself/herself from profit making so as to comply with the tenets of the Constitution, especially the “emoluments clause.”  If we elect a person whose business entanglements are so intricate that this is cannot be done, then we as citizens have failed our constitutional duties as voters.  These issues were brought to the foreground by the media during the election, but it was presented as an obligation the potential winner had to deal with, not as an issue the voter had an obligation to consider when casting their ballot.  I think, in retrospect, that viewpoint was wrong, and we as voters needed to be challenged to be responsible for making that a consideration when we decide on our candidates.