President Truman is famous for the sign he kept on his desk, and his references to the idea that once one becomes President, one simply has to step up and make the best decisions one can. President Truman certainly had some hard ones to make: whether to use the atomic bomb, whether to racially integrate armed forces, whether to recognize the State of Israel, how to handle the Soviet Union's decision to blockade Berlin. Some of Truman's decisions were roundly criticized at the time he made them; the merits of others have been debated by historians ever since. But the point is that when President Truman came to power he realized one key fact about power: it demands that one reflect and then decide. We live in a country where, at least according to the letter of the law, the President is not above the law, not a monarch. The President is one citizen among others. While not all of us have to make decisions as complicated as the ones a President must make, we each have a piece of the power that the President-qua-citizen has. The more often we understand our votes as moments of power, the more often we will vote not on the basis of spin or peer pressure but as an act of agency and of personal responsibility. When we vote - not just for Presidents but for all officeholders - we occupy a moment of political power. This is why when we vote we must ultimately answer to our own consciences. Because with every ballot cast we can say "the buck stops here." Oh, and here's a little known fact: the words on the opposite side of the famous desk sign:   This year Missouri will play a decisive role in choosing our next president. Let us hope the voters in that state remember a President who made tough calls and took responsibility for making them.