If You Vote, You Can’t Complain
We’re all familiar with the expression “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain.” I take issue with that. It’s 1984 double-speak to me. We, the peasants, are presented with this extremely infinitesimal chance to influence the choice from an extremely small selection of masters, the choices having essentially already been picked by the elite. We then play the game and we are permitted to complain about the results knowing full well the rules and the stakes beforehand. Excuse me? That sounds like very poor sportsmanship.
I don’t accept the rules or the stakes. I don’t want to be a slave under either McCain or Obama and I don’t appreciate others taking it upon themselves to pick who will be my master. Having an infinitesimal chance of influencing a choice of two masters does not make me feel the slightest bit free. Even if I had the only vote and could pick one of the two, that would not make me feel less a slave.
There are quite a lot of fair weather fans of our democratic republic. Complainers have been saying Bush wasn’t really elected ever since SCOTUS settled the controversial vote count in Florida. To those I ask if they’re losing faith in the checks and balances between the three branches of government that the founding fathers of the federal government of the U.S. put into place to keep tyranny in check. Are you? Good! Run with that. Maybe you’re onto something.
I understand the viewpoint of those who don’t approve of that process but they participate as a sort of defensive measure because they know the results are going to impact them regardless. I used to be in that camp as recently as the Ron Paul campaign. I have thoughts on that both from a moral point of view and from a practical point of view but I’m going to focus on the practical side of withdrawing from politics. I know those who continue to “vote defensively” are following their consciences and doing what they feel is best. I don’t feel it’s productive to continually harp on that subject, but I’ll address that in more detail another time. I want this to be a positive and inspirational message about what other things we can do.
Yesterday I participated with three other Keeniacs in a great voluntaryist outreach effort at a Howard Dean voter registration rally at Keene State. We had some great responses, along with a few not so friendly responses which is to be expected anytime you have something to say about a controversial subject. We were there to give an alternate viewpoint to the voter registration rally, and invite people to try other methods of effecting change in a peaceful way.
We’ll be having a similar effort on election day at some key voting locations around Keene, and hopefully in some other locations around New Hampshire if other NH residents are inspired by this. I’m hoping to encourage others to engage in similar outreach efforts around the country. That’s why I’m writing this now to give people some time to plan. I’ll be posting fliers on my blog that you can print out with summarized information about the violence inherent in politics.
Many people seem to think I don’t want to impact politics. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Like all “small-L” libertarians, I see politics as force backed by the the threat of violence, which is the opposite of freedom, and I absolutely want to see a substantial reduction in the impact of politics on our personal lives. However, to do this effectively, I must recognize politics as the enemy.
Recognize that an authoritarian government’s greatest weapon against us is not guns and violence. Their greatest weapons are their illusions. They’ve been fabricating illusions of authority ever since the days of the divine right of kings, where kings were considered to have the backing of God himself to justify their rule. With these illusions on their side, regular people turn aside as they commit acts that would be considered criminal by the hand of any “normal” person. The looters want us to play their political games. If you’ve read that horribly written novel with a fantastic premise, Atlas Shrugged, then you’ll recall all the attempts by the looters, as she refers to them, to get the victims to sanction their behavior. This is what the hamster wheel of politics is all about. Most of the looters believe in these illusions themselves, so I’m not claiming a conspiracy. It’s the nature of the beast. Anyone willing to use violence for personal gain can benefit from government and hence from these illusions, so it’s in their personal interest to maintain them. The more they truly convince themselves of the validity of these illusions, the less cognitive dissonance they feel when they engage in their violent enslavement of humanity. Politicians are themselves not even that high on the hierarchy of masters. Look to who contributes to their campaigns and otherwise invests in government force to see who commands the politicians and therefore also has an interest in maintaining the illusions.
When I choose not to vote, it’s just a small first step. I’m speaking out against the process itself and it seriously muddles my message if I engage in the process while speaking out against it. But I still have the potential to impact the process from outside of it. Anarchy or voluntaryism is not a binary all-or-nothing strategy. We can make progress toward liberty right now. Consider a viral message against the process itself and the positive impact that could have on political decisions.
Most people don’t like either candidate’s position, but are voting for the lesser evil as a sort of damage control. The candidate positions get more alike each election. There’s a reason that happens. With extremely few choices presented to us by the elite, the deciding votes are by swing voters. Those swing voters have more power than anyone. All a candidate has to do to keep their base is not be as horrible as the other candidate. Their base voters will fall into line with simple fear tactics. In the last presidential election, we were told Kerry was rated most liberal senator by some group. Notice that Obama is now the most liberal senator? Do you recall the “Anyone but Bush” campaign? Do you now see the “McSame- Same as Bush” signs? These tactics keep them from having to take strong, principled positions that would turn off swing voters, like pulling out of Iraq quickly or equalizing the dramatically graduated Marxist tax system or making some kind of substantial change to the social security system.
Imagine if people started proclaiming loudly that they’ve lost faith in the political system. Government needs our sanction for their illusions. Politicians need our votes to win elections. If that message starts to go viral, they have to fight that message. They have to start working to counter that message, and kudos if they do! If they start acting more principled to keep people believing in the system so they’ll vote, campaign, and contribute, then we’ve made progress. We’ve actually held politicians at least somewhat accountable without lifting a finger in violence, without ganging up with our buddies in an attempt to overpower those who disagree with us, but simply by being very vocally and loudly passive. We actually begin to lead a growing block of potential swing voters. A vote lost is as bad as a vote gained by the competitor, and maybe they will try to win some of those non-voters back. It won’t work on those like myself, but perhaps on some it may, if a politician starts to show a backbone.
What about third party candidates? They come and go, as do the parties themselves. The Libertarian party is in its death throes because it gave up its principles in an attempt to win the corrupt game of politics. Ideas are immortal. Our candidate sticks around and can gain momentum every election. Nobody for president, 2008!
So I say to you, don’t vote, but do complain. Complain very loudly and convince others to complain with you. Complain that the system itself is unacceptable and produces horrible candidates. Maybe you don’t share my anti-government sentiments, and that’s okay. Maybe you’ll agree with me later, but in the meantime, don’t vote for a lesser evil. Hold your votes and your contributions hostage until someone offers you a viable candidate with a spine. Make the candidates listen, not to apathetic couch surfers, but to principled and passionate non-voters.
Fliers have now been posted on my blog for outreaches so feel free to download those and alter them to your tastes unless you prefer to make your own fliers. I’ll also be posting a YouTube Vlog entry so check in a day or two or just subscribe to my YouTube channel and you’ll be notified when that’s up. In the meantime, enjoy these comics on voting.
