Before I get to the Dissident Dad’s latest post, I want to provide my own perspective with regard to this very important debate. While I agree that voting is generally meaningless in our current system, this is because the two choices we are given are 99% of the time captured cronies of the two corrupt political parties.
So this begs the question, can we ever get real choices on the ballot? I believe we can, but we need a much larger percentage of the population aware and engaged. While I completely respect the decision to not vote for either false choice (for example, in Colorado both choices for Governor are horrific), I hope people who make this choice don’t altogether give up on grassroots activism and civil disobedience, but rather direct their energy elsewhere.
I hope that Liberty Blizkrieg readers will take to the comments section and discuss this very important debate…
The Ritual of Voting
by the Dissident Dad
This year, my wife and I will – for the second time in our adult lives – not vote. Previously, I would have seen this stance as many people do: as an irresponsible act. The ritual of voting is very much like taking communion in church for half of this country.
As a father, I want to raise responsible adults, which is why my wife and I will not be heading to the polls this election.
I want to always help my children understand that they are sovereign men and women, and have no obligation to any government.
When it comes to voting, my wife and I are personally opting out of the system. There are a lot of reasons for us not to vote, but at the core it comes down to not wanting to enforce our will on others. I’m fine with making our voices heard, but when the vote has a direct impact on how much money is stolen from another family, I want nothing to do with it.
Both Democrats and Republicans support militarism, taxation, spying on us, inflation, redistribution of wealth, Keynesian economics and corporatism once they get in office.
My children need not to identify with this group of sociopaths, so to vote would be a bad example for them. Plus, as my friend Doug Casey has noted, voting just encourages them – the politicians, that is. Whether you’re voting for or against someone, winning an election gives the politician a sense of a mandate that they are obligated to create new rules, taxes and redistribution of wealth schemes to satisfy their voting bloc. That somehow they are in the right, because no matter how sick their political philosophy is, the majority has demanded they implement it into the minority’s lives.
The current options for voting within the system has conditioned Americans into becoming busybodies. We’re always given the choice of taking away the rights of others, stealing their property through taxation, and creating new laws for minority groups. Or worse, outright murdering people overseas because they consider our tens of thousands of troops, drones and ships off their coastlines a threat to their own national sovereignty.
I believe that intentionally not voting will serve as a positive reinforcement for my kids that you don’t have to comply with society’s expectations and you never have to take part in the lesser of two evils. The lesser of two evils is still evil.
The oligarchs laugh at all us plebs on Election Day because they know that no matter what we do, they’re going get what they want. If you voted for Bush, you got Ben Bernanke as the master of your dollar’s value and chief of banker bailouts. If you voted for Obama, who was supposed to be the anti-Bush, guess what; you still got Ben Bernanke as master of your dollar’s value and chief of banker bailouts.
Raising responsible adults in a world that is completely upside down continues to be my most difficult task as a father. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, your own personal choice between mainstream and independent thought is the easy part. What becomes far less manageable are your very own loved ones: family, friends, and neighbors who are fully part of the system and who blindly endorse its atrocities against mankind and defend the oligarchs every step of the way.
This is why not voting for my family has to be more than just a political protest, but something I will have to defend and take the time to explain at family gatherings.
For my children, I want them to know that the system is not their friend. It doesn’t mean that people who live within the system are our enemy; it just means that as sovereign people, we have no obligation to it, and it’s not us who should be embarrassed for not embracing it. Instead, it’s the thieves and busybodies who partake in the theft of someone else’s wealth — and even their lives — every time they prop up one these central planners.
Oh, and while we’re on the topic of sham elections and corrupt, insane politicians. Make sure you watch the following:
– The Dissident Dad
For more info see this author’s bio.
“I’d like to see Bush lose, but without Kerry winning.”
– Jacob Sullum, syndicated columnist, author of Saying Yes: In Defense of Drug Use.
“As a Canadian, I am spared the insulting process of punching a ballot to express which power glutton should prevail.”
– Wendy McElroy, columnist at Fox News and editor of ifemenist.net
“I might do the moral thing and not vote at all, or do the sensible thing and vote Libertarian, or I might make 100 bucks from my friend Tony, and vote for the GOP.”
– Penn Jillette of Penn & Teller
“Rather than vote for an entitlement-expanding, tariff-imposing, deficit-increasing, big government Johnson Republican, or an entitlement-expanding, tariff-imposing, deficit-increasing, big government Nixon Democrat, I will vote for Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik”
– Robert A. George, New York Post columnist
“Anyone but the Big Two….It’s just two members of the same statist party fighting over whose friends will get favors”
– Richard Epstein, Professor of Law at the University of Chicago
“Can you vote for all the nefarious cabals that really run the world?”
– Drew Carey, comedian
“Both of the major-party candidates brazenly flaunt their contempt for the U.S. Constitution.”
– James Bovard, author of The Bush Betrayal (among others)
“I’m embarrassed for my country that in my entire voting life, there has never been a major-party candidate whom I felt I could vote for.”
– John Perry Barlow, songwriter for the Grateful Dead, founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
‘George Carlin – Voting is Meaningless’
[VIDEO – 00:93] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeMGqTwWA6U&feature=youtu.be&t=1m47s
‘Voting for Death: Criminal vs. Criminal’
Linh Dinh
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/10/03/voting-for-death/
Excerpts:
“America, you have become a nation of enablers and apologists for tyranny and mass murder. You condemn the Nazi and gulag guards of times past even as you celebrate your own mercenaries and torturers…
“Safely ensconced in academic luna parks, your leading intellectuals lean slightly right or left, but never enough to rock this blazing gunboat…they’re all gung ho about candidates who back illegal wars and banking frauds, since each is supposedly the lesser of two evils.
“…*** simply by voting, you will give [this thoroughly corrupt and murderous system] the green light to go on killing and looting ***…
“The Good Old Party spooks the upper and middle classes by threatening, If you don’t vote for us, the Dems will take your hard-earned cash and give it to the freeloaders, crackheads and other miscellaneous losers, while the Democrats, in turn, scare the lower rungs by snarling, If you don’t vote for us, the Republicans will let your retired, diapered ass rot under a bridge, on a piece of cardboard, but lordy, lordy, lordy…
“…*** it is already happening ***…
“Each party paints the other as the greater evil, though both are equally whorish to a military banking complex that has wrought so much grief and destruction worldwide, including here. As they offshore your job, they may toss you a free cell phone or allow you to wed your same sex lover, but isn’t time, seriously, we demand that our money be spent responsibly, for our benefits? But no, we can only beg for small change, instead of real ones, and must vote, again, for proven liars and criminals, and hope, against all evidence, that they won’t impale us this time…
“Already, nearly half of Americans don’t cast ballots in any election, but we must make this abstention purposeful, as a clear sign of protest and not an act of apathy. The world must see that Americans aren’t all deranged and hypnotized as those who cheer and vote for one lying criminal [< CA-24] after another. We’re better than this, so let’s prove it… "
Frank Zappa:
"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion.
"At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater."
demonizing state legislatures merely serves to attempt to undermine (more) localized control of government. consolidating power is certainly not the answer to anything since almost all power is already consolidated in Washington DC.
I think you are choosing to take this the wrong way. First of all, the author never “demonized state legislatures,” and neither did John Oliver. The main takeaway here is that no one is paying attention to the state legislatures and so we get all sorts of crazy in there, which clearly is the case. Second, special interests do pay attention and they fill these positions with cronies.
My takeaway is that people at the grassroots, local level need to get engaged and get smart, moral people in there. You came to one conclusion, I came to another. This site has been a supporter of local solutions from day 1.
I’m referring to John Oliver’s piece above. The amount of evil going on in the federal Congress dwarfs the evil in State Houses
by trotting out a laundry list of idiocy from State legislatures, Oliver is clearly attempting to demonize these entities rather than the federal legislature which is FAR more destructive and full of horrid decisions. I agree that people need to pay more attention to their local State houses but when the federal government usurps control over everything, a lot of the emphasis that should be directed toward State legislatures must be directed at the federal legislatures due to their usurped control. I disagree that “no one is paying attention to the state legislatures” I am. And so are many others nationwide.
I wholeheartedly support your takeaway but I don’t think that John Oliver’s spot supports that takeaway at all. His takeaway is that the State legislatures are full of loons and cannot be trusted.
which they are and that is precisely why I support your takeaway! haha
Not voting, or voting for the same losing 3rd party, is an unwise waste of my vote and I will not waste it again (and neither should you, so keep reading).
Peter Schiff had it right recently when speaking to a group of Libertarians at a convention in Connecticut. He told them (and I paraphrase) “you guys don’t understand that the average voter will not pull the lever for the guy on the ballot with the ‘L’ letter. The only chance at winning and therefore the only logical alternative is to run as a Republican.” I agree. Libertarians must co-op the Republican Party because this is the only place available to us where political power resides. Not voting or making a useless 3rd party vote accomplishes absolutely nothing…nada…zippo. It won’t send a message to Washington because politicians could care less about non-voters or minor parties.
We must do whatever it takes to stop this suicidal journey toward totalitarianism. If we don’t immediately reverse direction away from tyranny and toward liberty very soon we’ll never get another chance. The Democratic-Socialist-Progressive agenda must be defeated, regardless of who gets the credit or which party claims victory. I’d rather have a shot at the possibility of a Libertarian society in 10 to 20 years by voting for a republican today than risking the high probability of a zero chance of ever having a libertarian society by voting Libertarian (or not voting) and allowing the progressives to keep & build their power.
If you don’t vote, or vote 3rd party (the guaranteed loser), you’ll gain absolutely nothing and possibly allow yet another pure statist to get his hands on the levers of power which just makes things worse. We must do whatever it takes to prevent certain individuals who espouse the philosophy of slavery and who desire political power to keep them from obtaining that power. Today we find ourselves in a defensive struggle. The offensive action will just have to wait for a better day. We must stop the (real) bad guys. We must stand by & support the most likely winning candidate who opposes the pure statist candidate (Democrat), no matter what their party affiliation.
Sorry ideological purists, but there just is no other way.
So your theory is that we should keep trying the same thing, but expect a different result?
I prefer William Gibson’s theory; if we start voting out incumbents, they’ll look around and see all the new guys and start listening to the electorate between elections.
Earlier today I watched this timely and fascination bit of sleuthing and dot-connecting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gEz__sMVaY . The Gilens & Page research scientifically shows you what you already know… that your vote is meaningless. Why? Because your representatives cannot vote in secret and do the right thing even if they want to. This is a fantastic revelation that has zero buzz…. until now. I can’t stress how interesting and important this is.
@TommyMaq
No, that’s not my theory, but it sounds like yours, because staying home and not voting or voting for a 3rd party is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Here’s a good example of what I mean.
I happen to reside in Oregon. In the 2010 election Chris Dudley(R), a typical mainstream Republican, lost the governor’s race to past Oregon governor John Kitzhaber (D) — a truly hardcore communist & Obama clone — by the slimmest of margins. Had the votes for the Libertarians and Constitutional Party gone to Dudley (one could reasonably argue that most of those votes would have gone to him), he would have won the election! Here are the stats:
Party Candidate Votes Percentage
Democrat John Kitzhaber 716,525 49.29%
Republican Chris Dudley 694,287 47.77%
Constitution Greg Kord 20,475 1.41%
Libertarian Wes Wagner 19,048 1.31%
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’d much much rather have to tolerate a neo-con republican like Dudley than a Kitzhaber hardcore statist. Does this mean that your vote could sway the election? Not a chance. But combine your lowly one vote with potentially millions of other non-voter or idealistic 3rd party voters and it sure in hell could. Democrats are a morally corrupt party of mind-numb drones. They all vote lock-step for anyone who represents the party, anyone. These guys are the real big evil & they vote like their lives depend on it. Lovers of freedom must be able to collectively out-vote them, else they will have the power to do to us what they will. This is the challenge freedom lover’s face.
It seems to me the point you make is this: “I have a choice between a hard-core statists and a soft-core statists. They’re both evil, so I’ll just stay home & not vote (or vote for a 3rd party looooooser).” You’re now admitting that you’re going to punish those who vote republican who want freedom & liberty, just like you, by making them pay for not supporting your pure ideological candidate. That ain’t working.
“the two choices we are given”
In Colorado most of the races had multiple choices. If you don’t have a reason to vote for a candidate, simply vote 3rd party. A good reason to vote for a major-party candidate would be if that person was actually co-opting the big-party machinery to get elected. This can happen if people get involved in the grassroots of the big parties – get involved, pay attention, and show up to nominate candidates. Particularly in caucus states like Colorado, registering R and going to caucus and state GOP convention is where it happens. Those who refuse to do that and stay home and complain via articles are proving that the R/D two-party hijack is winning. If you want to take this back you must get involved.
Are you kidding me pal? I’ve been involved in the way I am most effective, by quitting my Wall Street job and writing about these issues every day.
Get off your high horse. Not everybody is supposed to do the exact same thing in order to push forward change. Yes, people need to do what you say. It also gets thwarted by the establishment such as what happened to Ron Paul in 2012. One of my friends was a Ron Paul delegate in Maine.
I’d say the 100,000 unique visitors that came to this site last month would disagree with your assessment of me simply “staying at home and complaining,” and see what I am doing as engaging in the debate of ideas and expressing the power of the written word.
Get over yourself.