nostate.com

Revolution in your head

Kirsten of the Enjoy Every Sandwich blog had a revolution in her head quite some time ago — one grand enough that she moved to Montana. Reacting now to and commenting on that corrupt, anemic substitute for true revolution which is called the democratic process, she gives her reasons for not voting, which are identical to my own:

I will not vote in this election.

I will not participate in this distraction and sham, and neither laziness nor apathy is among my reasons behind my choice.

I think most of the possible voting choices are unethical. Specifically, I believe it is unethical to vote to place another human being in a position of power over a peaceful person who cannot opt out of that system if there is a reasonably realistic chance your choice might prevail. I believe it is unethical to vote to steal a peaceful person’s property- be that theft in the form of taxation, eminent domain, zoning, gun control, the drug war, fines or penalties for victimless activities, or any of a bazillion other activities I could list. I believe it is unethical to vote to take away any peaceful choice a person could make- be that choice to carry arms either openly or concealed in public, to fuck bicycle parts, to wear clothing with distasteful graphics, to speak, publish or read offensive material, or again any of a bazillion other things that do not violate anyone else’s right to their own equally individual choices.

It is a very specific strategic choice for me not to vote. The system we have- no matter who is in charge- is fundamentally flawed and needs to be supplanted by individual freedom as soon as possible. It is predicated on the flawed notion that some men may dictate the details of the lives others. It is my desire to see such a system widely regarded as a joke.

I want holding a government job to be considered an embarassment by most people. I want the idea that we should obey arbitrarily meaninglessly selected other people to seem ludicrous to us all.

As Fred Rogers used to ask every day, please won’t you be my neighbor?