Why I Don't Vote

Guest Post by Larken Rose

Let’s examine the ritual of voting, its purpose, and its insanity.

First, a summary of why I don’t vote:   I won’t give anyone permission to rule me, and I don’t have the right to give anyone permission to rule you.   Clear enough?

Imagine a country in which a self-appointed, self-perpetuating dictatorship were to swipe half of what everyone earns, as well as meddling in every aspect of common life.   For the moment, ignore the fact that this could not be imposed on the country by force (due to the armed populace).   What would your attitude be towards such a regime?   Hatred?   Willingness and eagerness to use force to stop them, and/or exterminate them?   Me too.

So since someone is doing those things to the people here now, why don’t you have that attitude?   Because every two years they let you walk into a booth and press a button?   Whoop-Deedoo.   Don’t you feel mighty as you press that button, before going off to earn more counterfeit money to give to various levels of "government"?   If this looks like freedom to you, then I would also like to "free" you.

Jackney Sneeb and I are going into the “democracy” business.   Here’s how it works: you give us half of what you earn, and if you don’t, we kill you.   But wait! That’s not all!   (If it was, you’d hate us, and possibly kill us.)   Every two years, we will allow you to come to our polling place, walk into a booth, and press either a button that says "Larken Rose" or a button that says "Jackney Sneeb.”   Feel free to swell with pride as you do it, too, and wax eloquent about your patriotic duty.   That’s the whole deal.   For your convenience, you can hand over your cash while voting.

Oh, you say you want that button-pressing to do something?   Like maybe make it so only one of us (whoever gets more votes) has power?   Picky, picky.   You don’t get that now.   Jackney and I will give you just what you get now:   after you choose a button, Mr. Sneeb and I will get together, and decide how to rule you.   You don’t need to know all the details of how we come to these decisions.   Remember, we are representing you when we do it.   Just trust us to look out for your best interests.   (And by the way, you are to blame for whatever we do, because we are only representing you.   It isn’t our responsibility.)

I sense you are not thrilled with this proposal.   Well . . . did you vote today?

"If you don’t vote, then you can’t complain about the results."

Apply that to the deal above, and you will see just how idiotic a statement it is.   But it is a fine propaganda tool to use on the moronic masses.   I can’t count the number of times that people have gone from "if you don’t vote . . ." to "if you’re not doing anything to change things . . ." without even realizing they're talking about two different things.   It’s freaking insane.

This is the essence of the grand delusion.   The current criterion for the Divine Right of Kings is the ballot booth.   We gave up the mythology of swords in rocks, bloodlines, etc., and chose a worse basis for the delusion.   It is entirely a religious belief, and is more bizarre than any other religion I can think of.   At least other religions make up some non-human, divine "authority" to bow to.   The nutcase civil authoritarians instead say that they themselves are the source of the right to rule ("government of the people, by the people, blah blah blah"), and yet are subject to that rule.   They didn’t even bother putting a curtain around that little guy who runs the Wizard of Oz gimmick.   They know there is no substance to it, and they still believe in it.

Here’s a simple question that makes most people freak out: "If you don’t have the right to tax, regulate, and control me yourself, how does your voting give that right to someone else?   (And if you can do it with theft, why can’t you do it with mass murder?) "Uh . . . uh . . . uh . . . it’s the system we have."   Well then let’s go back to the "system" of soggy bitches in puddles flinging weaponry around.   It caused less damage.   Calling a lunatic ritual a "system" doesn’t make it rational.

The power of the United States "government" does not come from force.   It comes from the delusion; the belief that these cult rituals give someone the right to rule.   Not only would the moronic masses not obey if they didn’t have this delusion, but the politicians’ hired thugs wouldn’t be using force if they didn’t have this delusion too (with the exception of a few who would just be honest mercenary assholes).   When you go into that booth, you legitimize this lunacy.   Regardless of who you vote for, you are making it very clear that you believe that this process gives the right to rule -- to rule you and everyone else.

Libertarians who vote often bitch at me for saying this.   But it is extra-loony for them to vote (even ignoring the fact that the basis of their philosophy rules out "government" entirely).   If they know they will lose anyway, why legitimize the ritual that will supposedly grant someone the right to rule them?   "We are making a statement." Yeah, and what a statement it is.   "I don’t really believe in inalienable rights, and I don’t really believe that the initiation of force is wrong."   If a libertarian does believe these things, how does this button-pushing bullshit fit into the equation?

"We believe these truths to be self-evident, that every voter is endowed by the voting booth with certain inalienable rights . . ."   If extortion, under any euphemism ("taxation"), is wrong, and stopping it with force is right (as the premise of libertarianism states), then what the hell is this bizarre election crap?

Why don’t we add the local murderers, rapists, and thieves to the ballot?   Let’s have campaigns for who gets to be the head murderer of the district.   "I promise to murder people more fairly."   All the murderers in the area will decide how the people will choose their new Chief Murderer.   Let’s all get together and vote for Ghandi as Chief Murderer.   That is the proper way to reduce murder.   AAK!

Sometimes libertarians say they are just doing this loony thing in the hopes of making a change without violence.   Go dance around a bonfire with goat skulls.   It will be more effective.   A change can be made without violence, and the first step of that change has to be unmasking all the political cult ritual crap for what it is: crap.   Stop asking the false god of the cannibals to please tell his followers to stop trying to eat you.   He isn’t there, and you’re making an ass out of yourself, while at the same time validating the beliefs of the dickheads who want you on the menu.