I would like to reiterate that a vote is not a voice. The power of your actions is your voice. You have just as much voice today as you did yesterday. No campaign or election can diminish that power. Your voice is not relinquished to those who sit in Washington.
Category: Voluntaryism
You’ve Got to Stop Voting
Boycotting elections alone will not oust the oligarchy, but it is the only proven non-violent way to delegitimize a government. Here are some of the most common canards that political party operatives use to argue against not voting, and my responses.
Democracy Is War by Other Means
Democracy is war by other means. Superficially, it is waged with ballots instead of bullets. At the end of the day, those ballots become bullets. Elections load real guns and aim them at real people. If you disobey the commandments handed down by elected officials, beefy men with shaved heads and Ray-Ban sunglasses will come to take you away. If you resist them, hot lead will fly. Elections are scrambles for control over the service weapons that propel those rounds. In such contests, every faction is trying to point the gun barrels at someone else.
The Trouble With Politics
Politics is of its very nature is biased in favor of intervention and planning. Even in its “minarchist” or “night-watchman” version, politics is based at root on the idea that some decisions must be made coercively and imposed on unwilling minorities – or even majorities, as the case may be. This is contrary to the principle we observe in private life every day: the consent of both parties is necessary for a transaction to take place.
Short Manifesto Against Democracy
Written by Rob Alvord. My quick manifesto against democracy before voting day: Some people have Verizon, some have T Mobile. Some have Progressive, some have Allstate. I love that we are able to choose these preferences without having to cause disputes amongst ourselves as human beings. Tomorrow, a majority of people are going to decide…
Be the Honey Badger
Video by BBC.
Estonian Civilians Voluntarily Trained in Insurgency
One of the new chapters for the third edition of The Machinery of Freedom discusses the question of how a stateless society might defend against a state, which I regard as the hardest problem for such a society. One of the possibilities I raise is having people voluntarily train and equip themselves for warfare for the fun (and patriotism) of it, as people now engage in paintball, medieval combat in the Society for Creative Anachronism, and various other military hobbies.
Cultural Appropriation Is Love
Editor’s Pick. Written by TJ Brown. I’ve never been able to get into the Halloween spirit. Maybe that’s because most of my childhood’s trick-or-treating consisted of candy corn. But as I’ve grown, I’ve gained a new appreciation for this holiday. It’s an exhibition and embrace of cultural diversity through costumes and tog. Honoring the Other…
Government is Not Abstract
Editor’s Pick. Guest post by Connor Boyack. Government is not abstract. I find that many people treat it like it is. This is evident in how they discuss a political issue. Here’s an example. “Marijuana should not be legalized.” This sounds so benign, yet it masks a number of disastrous consequences such a position requires.…
Ship-Jumping Libertarians
Editor’s Pick. Guest post by Robert Higgs. A message to former libertarians who jumped ship because of a perceived crisis (e.g., Islamist terrorism, immigrant “invasion,” Chinese driving the U.S. economy to ruin by flooding the country with cheap imports): You have forgotten, among other things, what you used to understand about the injustice and destructiveness…