Why I refuse to vote!
I refuse to vote!
I am sure you have heard it before, somebody with a smug look on their face saying that if you do not vote then you have no right to complain. In this post I will describe why I believe not only is this self righteous dribble, but is factually incorrect as well.
Refusing to vote IS NOT opting out of having an opinion. When you vote, you are essentially saying that you support the process as a whole, and more specificity you endorse one specific way of thinking within that system. Leaving aside the absurdity of saying that everybody conforms to only two or three sets of ideals, not voting at all is in itself a form of vote, it is saying I vote not only not to support any specific party or candidate, but against the system as a whole.
As it stands now, there is a cycle that has gone back generations. First a level or anger starts to rise in the populous, then a bright new shiny hope arrives in the form of a politician. This person then starts campaigning and appeasing this disgruntled populous with promises of how things could substantially improve if they are elected. Once they are put in power, they start to roll back on these promises, acting in a similar way to their predecessors... and the cycle starts again.
Voting is essentially lending legitimacy to this system, and if you are okay with that, then that's fine we are all free (ish) to make that decision but if you are not, if the idea of supporting a system that actively encourages corrupt, morally bankrupt individuals is one you cannot live with, then not voting is surely the way to go.
When are we going to realise that freedoms are taken periodically by both the left and the right of the spectrum. Can you remember at any point in time a government actually increasing people's freedom? At this point somebody usually brings up equal rights for women or minorities, but that wasn't the government's doing.
It was THE PEOPLE who fought for women's rights.
It was THE PEOPLE who fought for civil rights
It was THE PEOPLE who gave gays rights.
The government always takes freedom and offers up payment in the form of the illusion of security. They are allowed to do this because people either actively or passively support the system.
Now, let me be clear, I am not an anarchist I am a libertarian, I just want to be left alone but I accept that some form of government is necessary in order to organise meta tasks like war, diplomacy, research, maintaining roads and public spaces and the like, but what I STRONGLY dislike is the hold that government has in every single aspect of life.
I don't care about some 15 year old who wants to buy some weed, he isn't hurting me, yet the government wants to arrest him/her and potentially damage his/her future and use MY tax money to do it... no thanks.
I support gay marriage, I'm all about live and let live, but when that infamous Christian baker who refused to make a cake for a gay wedding got in trouble, I was appalled! How on earth is that the government's business? Nobody is entitled to somebody else's labour, that's called slavery. I think the baker is prejudiced, sure, but legal trouble... Really?
The list goes on and on and on... over the last hundred years the amount of laws that have passed and freedoms either diminished or revoked is astonishing. I don't know how much more we can take. So I suggest nobody votes until an alternative is proposed which is more palatable to freedom.
Thanks for reading, and I welcome any comments or arguements for or to the contrary.
Viking
Thank you very much for taking the time and energy to post something like this! I wish we could get beyond the two party system and actually have some contenders that a large group of citizens would take seriously.
I think it all begins by realizing that we don't have to vote the lesser of the two evils all of the time... even though I've done that before myself.
We must strive for more even if that means we remain silent at times. Thanks again for posting and you definitely have my upvote! @cryptoviking
My pleasure! thank you :)
You are welcome, @cryptoviking :)
love this post, you always have great posts on your blog man, love it dude.
I don't vote but I do think that voting locally is good.
I believe in local governance. big governments, even state gov's are way to big to do their residents justice/represent them.
i'm not sure what type of government I want to see, something where people are responsible for themselves and their local communities.
(my opinion, I could be shown i'm wrong and id love to embrace a better version of my idea)
Thanks man, I appreciate that. I agree with what you are saying, personal responsibility and community help is much more valuable that governmental tyranny. I don't know what the perfect system would look like either, or even if such a think can even exist, but what we have now is old and corrupt.
yep, if anything, abolishing what we have now and resetting up the same system would be good. governments have a shelf life I feel.
I like the idea of anarchy, not burning cars in the street but being responsible for yourself, there's so much gray areas, and its so complicated to think about how a perfect government should be..
not to be redundant but I feel like it was worth saying again in more specific terms.
bro, I'm really serious you're one of my favorite blogs, always something good to see on here.
i'm just saying I appreciate it and wish u great growth
Thanks a lot :)
By voting you are accepting a lie. The lie is that you have some say. You don't. Why continue to be played like a fool? Stop. It is embarrassing. Now, if you are voting to troll the system, that is different. Pointing out absurdities is worth it. :)
I agree as well, but at the same time you're doing what this post is saying and just adding to the count of people that are participating in the system, and the more people that participate the more legitimacy it has
I agree!
I understand what you are saying, Great post!
Thank you :)
You have been upvoted and maybe even resteemed by @vsteems!!We help minnows grow by upvoting and sometimes even resteeming them!!
If you want to say thank you in a way please upvote this comment and maybe our vote be worth a whole bunch someday and maybe it will help you! Thank you.
one of my good friends @ kyle.anderson is someone you might be interested in following, he has great intellect and insight especially concerning the crypto world and in the future I could see him writing more on genetic engineering.
just recommending him because I think you'd like him
Thanks I will check him out.
I agree I don't vote either. The reason I don't vote is because I don't believe in the people who ran. I'm not opposed to voting for someone but they need to be aligned with my views
If you claim to be a libertarian why are you not voting for them?
There is a difference between a political party and beliefs, I believe big l and small l libertarian is a term Americans use?
I'm not from the US. There is no credible libertarian party here.
Making the assumption that if the Libertarian party were elected they would actually make substantial change is something I'm not convinced by. Nothing ever seems to change no matter who is in charge.
If you could reshape the government what would you do?
I love reading the blogs here but I can't upvote them all, But i can comment on them :) That's what it's all about. There are more blogs I want to read than I have votes per day.