Even if one holds the position that this vote would ultimately mean nothing towards the devolution of an illegitimate government, I think we can all agree that, despite that larger scheme of things, it nonetheless represents an opportunity to do so. So to that end, from a philosophical standpoint, one has not only a moral right to vote but a moral *obligation* to vote, to express their preference for killing the system even if it can’t be done this time.

Then there’s the effect of voting on the general public. The ultimate goal is to engage the public with the ideas of liberty as much as possible, but they need reasons to be receptive to those ideas that go beyond mere logic and facts. Even if many people believe in these ideas amongst themselves, they will refuse to stand up for those beliefs if they see so few others doing the same. If you have an opportunity to show others that it’s OK to believe in those ideas publically, to show them the numbers of followers and how they’re growing, and you refuse to do so, are you not forgoing your moral obligations to your beliefs?

I am against going to a witch doctor.

As I see it, when people rely on false, ineffective, and just plain wrong “solutions” to their problems, it is actually worse than doing nothing.

When you have an infection, a shaman will tell you that the best remedy is to beat a drum while preparing an offering made out of tree bark and dog shit for you to give to the river god.

When you take this advice, you are actually worse off, since by getting a false answer to your question (as opposed to “I don’t know”), you have failed to acknowledge that you actually don’t know how to treat the infection, and have therefore spent your time and energy doing things that make your situation worse.

By giving you the tree-bark-and-dog-shit remedy, the shaman’s first lie is unspoken — that he knows what will help you. The second lie is also unspoken — that there is such a thing as a river god. The actual remedy he provides is the third lie — that tree-bark-and-dog-shit cures dysentery.

However, science and reason will tell you to take an antibiotic, boil your water, stop crapping in your drinking supply, and wash your hands before you eat dinner. That’s because science and reason have identified the true cause of your ailment — microorganisms.

To bring this strained analogy full circle, I recommend that when we all look around and see the problem (the State, and the idea of statism generally), that we avoid using the wrong remedies (the State’s voting procedures), and instead do the things that make us happier and more free and prosperous (love, procreation, fun, productivity, etc.).

Becoming more free also means avoiding the means by which the State makes us unfree. The main method by which we are enslaved is psychological. Slave-masters have evolved. They no longer use whips and leg irons. Instead, they use false ideas (e.g., the legitimacy of statism). When you inculcate children with these ideas, only one in a million people will ever understand the truth of our enslavement. The slaves will enslave themselves.

Please open your mind to the idea that voting serves no practical purpose, and has no effect on the course of governmental action. It is pure theater.

And since voting is theater, the ONLY reason the statists want you to participate in it is for the psychological effect it has on you. It mollifies people. It prevents them from accepting the idea that we are slaves.

Other strategy would be to work inside the system by having a job and salary and use those resources to fight against the system for ones rights. Would voting against the state or attending in a political campaign be worse, than choosing to work for many hours daily for the benefit of the state?

This is all about a little bit of political theatre and mostly this theatre plays some soap opera or other. The audience gets to pay for the tickets and is allowed to engage in a little clapping, cheering, gasping etc from time to time. So long as the audience participation is limited and controlled, not interfering too much with what the actors are up to on the stage, then it is tolerated by the theatre management and security. Of course, the audience is not supposed to invade the stage and take it over…

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In the normal course of events one should never engage in voting for someone who does not act in one’s own interest. Worse still would be voting for someone who acts to oppose or destroy one’s principles and take away one’s own property. That means that it is almost impossible to rationally and logically vote for any politician. To so do would be the granting of a sanction to be looted and worse. Nevertheless generations of North Americans and others have granted the sanction to their own enslavement and destruction. Go figure. Such persons can’t complain. They partook and deserve the consequences their support yields to them.

On the other hand, those who didn’t do not deserve such consequences. Unfortunately it is vanishingly difficult, if not impossible, for them to insulate themselves from the results of others’ overwhelming desire for self-immolation. As was reported to me, “When a fire is big enough, even those some distance away can still get burnt.”

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As far as voting for Ron Paul is concerned, if you believe in his policies and principles, if you believe he is telling the truth and will act according to what he says, then voting for him is to vote in favour of those. He represents you and the consequences of that will be yours to enjoy.

The question still remains whether doing so makes you a supporter of the present system. Does taking part mean you are acting in support? That question defies nice, easy and comfortable answers. For example, the oft touted idea of change from within is a reliable self-justification and certainly conventional enough, but does that ever really occur? Have any such changes from within been away from government and towards freedom? My late teacher used to state that, “all elections are won by government.” Perhaps that is worth more than a passing thought.

Is a vote for Ron Paul indeed a sanction of the system or instead a sanction of Ron Paul and the policies and principles as promoted by Ron Paul? Whichever answer you choose, there is no denying that Ron Paul promoted important principles of liberty in economics, politics etc that likely would not have received the publicity that they have enjoyed in the US media of late. For on-going continuance of that I, for one, would enjoy seeing him elected to the Oval Office. Still, on this occasion, to vote Ron Paul or not isn’t my decision to make. Over to you guys.

Sione

If you were truly indifferent, then you could just as easily spend the time voting (or otherwise talking about politics) by eating caramels. Or learning to play the mouth harp. Or replacing all the light bulbs in your house with black lights. (Or what I call ‘Tuesday night.’)

If you believed that voting truly does not matter, except as a pantomime of political activity designed to deceive you into compliance with the State, which you claim to oppose, then you would not vote. Or you would vote for yourself. Or vote for Mickey Mouse. Or the ghost of Elvis.

You are clearly holding onto some tiny shred of belief that Ron Paul (or whoever) can actually improve your life.

I’m telling you that this belief is pure, concentrated poison, and is robbing you of true freedom of thought and action.

Doesn’t that response tell you something? Statists hate it, I mean HATE it, when the sheeple refuse to participate in their little charade. The charade is essential to the whole operation.

The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. If people want to oppose the state, trying to get the state to fix itself from within is not the way to do it. The way to do it is ignore it.

http://www.anti-politics.ws/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/votefornobody.jpg

Live your life anarchistically. Live it outside the confines of statism. Ignore the state as much as you possibly can. But the first step is to free your mind, and to do that, you have to let go of the sad little hope that your government will listen to you. Quit supplicating to your abuser.

And actually Phinn, not voting does not damage the state at all. More often than not, it empowers it. I’ve never heard someone say “Look the voter turnout was really low this year. Maybe people are questioning the legitimacy of the state”

Usually, the low voter turnout is used to aggrandize the state by promoting yet more civic duty propaganda and the non-voters are accused of being apathetic people who need better public school education.

These ideas are a perfect inversion of reality.

The results of voting are not merely “less than I anticipate.” They are nothing. Zero. De minimus.

I “stand up and disagree” by pointing out the falseness of the lie of the State. The State is actually very fragile. It cannot function without the active participation of the serfs. I encourage everyone to deny them that. That’s what I do. That’s how I spend my time (when I’m not meeting my family’s economic needs, sleeping or recreating).

Massive non-voting is actually far more damaging to the State than attempting to vote in an anti-statist politician. Such voting will never work, but a large movement of non-voting helps dispel the idea that voting matters.

Voting is not trivial in terms of its impact on your mind. The psychological impact of voting is the sole reason that the state keeps it around.

The expectation of voting is even more important than the biannual ritual of actually going to a voting booth. Every minute people spend talking about electoral politics and upcoming elections reinforces the idea that voting matters.

You can either sit and the corner and ignore their intrusions into your life, or you can take what little bit of say they give you and kick back a little bit. Sure the results may be less than you anticipated, but at least you’ve stood up and said “I disagree.”

And you know what’s also trivial and pointless….not voting at all in protest. So might as well cast a ballot for Ron Paul if you’ve got nothing else to do.

You are buying into the false reality they have created for you.

Reality is that voting for a president has about as much effect on the actions of the government as does voting for the winner of American Idol.

Reality is that a handful of industries own the U.S.A. Reality is that you are a serf on their plantation. They found that it’s far too expensive to keep you in actual shackles, so instead they have trained you from birth to enslave yourself.

A key part of this false reality is getting you to participate in the illusion. To participate in the ritual of self-enslavement. Encouraging you to participate in voting is a key propaganda tool.

Imagine that your vote went into a random number generator. Imagine that the voting machines didn’t even bother to record your vote at all. That’s how trivial voting is.