Voters Anonymous, Anyone?
Posted by Thomas L. Knapp on Aug 5, 2010 in Commentary • 14 commentsYes, I voted. Schlepped down to the polling place on Tuesday, presented my papers, and poked the screen until the machine informed me that I had successfully cast my ballot.
I even took one of those cheesy little “I Voted” stickers. Just one. On my way into the polling place, a toddler came bouncing out with one sticker on each hand. Yes, it’s a machine Democratic precinct — why do you ask?
The anarchist arguments against voting (“it only encourages them;” “if it changed anything, they’d make it illegal;” “it falsely legitimizes the system”) all strike me as sound, although Murray Rothbard’s “voting as self-defense” argument holds some water, too.
The “voting as self-defense” bit was part of what got me this time (this one last time, just this one last time, I keep promising myself).
Here in Missouri, Proposition C — a measure to nullify ObamaCare’s “individual mandate” — was on the ballot.
I personally and individually nullified the “individual mandate” nearly a year ago, before the bill even passed, by swearing to drop my health insurance and go to jail rather than pay a fine when/if it goes into effect. Proposition C, to my mind, represented an opportunity recruit a majority (that’s all I hoped for, anyway — it actually clocked in at over 70%!) of voting Missourians to have my back on the issue.
Voting as self-defense, see?
But really I’m just kidding myself. I voted for a lot of reasons, all of which really boil down to one: I’ve got a monkey on my back.
Have you ever tried to quit smoking? It may go well or badly in general, but once you’ve had the nicotine habit it’s always there to at least some degree. I’ve talked to “ex-smokers” who still get the craving 10, 20, 30 years later.
If you also happen to be a drinker, you’re going to constantly catch yourself thinking “you know, a cigarette would go really well with this Fat Tire®. How the hell can I drink a beer without a smoke?”
I had my “beer” on Monday when I had to drop in at the local election authority’s office to sign some paperwork — one of my duties as chair of my county’s Libertarian Party committee, a job I leave behind me without regrets next week.
Bam … off the wagon! One little sip of electoral involvement, next thing you know I’m blazing up a political Marlboro®.
I told myself it was about Proposition C. That I had an obligation to support Libertarian candidates whom I had recruited in contested primaries. That the act of voting bore no moral significance. That it was just an exercise in social camaraderie.
But I took a long, long shower when I got home.
At the end of the day, I understand that voting not only changes nothing, but reinforces the putative legitimacy of an evil system which I’ve dedicated my life to dismantling.
The first step in recovery is admitting that you have a problem.
Hello. I’m Tom, and I’m a voter.
Thomas L. Knapp is Senior News Analyst and Media Coordinator at the Center for a Stateless Society (c4ss.org).
Hi, Tom. Take a white chip. Keeping coming back.
Me too. I understand all the arguments against voting, but I got it drilled into me so much that voting is your civic duty that I just can't quite bring myself not to. Plus, since everyone (in an area) votes on the same day, there's a social reinforcement element.
I did too. I live in KC & I also voted for Prop C. It was not however my main reason in going. My main purpose was to block a guy in my neighborhood from getting the democratic nomination for the office he was seeking. It was actually accomplished by 6 votes. 3 were ones' I know I spoke to and influenced, and I had hundreds in the area read my articles against him, so I am actually starting to think I really may have had an impact in that election…
I was ready to give up the addiction. I don't know If I can by November or not….
I've never seen a 'victory' at the polls before this week.
I also find the "self-defense" arguments somewhat appealing. I certainly felt like I was voting in self-defense in 2008, in fear that McCain would strengthen the kind of lockdown that Diebold, the K Street Project, redistricting, drinkers of "Unitary Executive" Kool-Aid on the Supreme Court, etc., were working to bring about.
Obama's pretty much a standard Democrat when it comes to executive self-aggrandizement, but I don't feel he wakes up with a hardon about declaring martial law and building himself a throne on a pyramid of skulls, like Cheney did. Until the election was over, I seriously feared that the Republicans might not *allow* the Democrats to defeat them in an election. That's just how paranoid I was in the post-Reichstag Fire atmosphere of this country after 9-11. I really half-expected that districts with electronic voting machines would have a 10% or 20% discrepancy with the exit polls, that race riots by outraged black voters would begin Tuesday night, and that it would be used as justification for some sort of authoritarian crackdown. While presidents of both party have ratcheted executive power and police statism upward for decades, I think the sheer scale of Bush-Cheney's visceral lust for dictatorial power was unprecedented since (at least) Nixon–and Nixon had nowhere near the political or technological possibilities for acting on it that the Bush junta did.
If I'd been in Germany in the early '30s, I'd have probably taken advantage of the possibility to vote against Hitler.
It is difficult to overcome childhood programming, whether it is the "it is important to vote" program or the "Democrats are better than Republicans" (or vice versa) program.
When you hit 40 or 50 you'll look in the mirror and see you dad or mom staring right back at you. Just a little something for you to look forward to.
The big question for libertarian anarchists that I love asking, “If Ron Paul runs in 2012, will you vote?”
“The “voting as self-defense” bit was part of what got me this time (this one last time, just this one last time, I keep promising myself).”
I never got that bit man, self-defense how exactly? How is using government force against your common man defensive? Sure, you could use it to make sure a bill of you not liking is not passed or a lesser evil but then you’re just forcing your preferences on others through the government you apparently hate.
Kevin:
“If I’d been in Germany in the early ’30s, I’d have probably taken advantage of the possibility to vote against Hitler.”
Have you read this by Wendy? It’s a good reason why NOT to do something like this:
http://www.voluntaryist.com/articles/085b.php
I’m against voting, practically, morally and so forth I can’t really get passed the idea of us as anarchists working with the government on any real level, governmental politics in general is a dead idea and should be treated as such.
Stacy,
Even if I vote in 2012, I can predict to a high degree of confidence that I won’t vote for Ron Paul in 2012.
The next time I vote for a Republican for president will be the first time. And there isn’t going to be a first time.
Regards,
Tom
The last time I voted was in 1997.
It seems to me that the political structure of a place, and the people who live in that place are two separate and distinct sets of people. Back in 1997, I had come to the conclusion that the authority these political critters have is only that authority that we give them. So, I stopped voting. It was the least I could do to, for my own self, start expressing the idea that these political critters lack any legitimate authority.
Back in ’08 I did a ballot just for some local issues that pissed me off. Couldn’t resist writing on the write-in line for President “Thomas Knapp” though.
b-psycho,
Gee, I must have really pissed you off somehow … president? Why not just cut my nads off or something?
I find it hard to withdraw my consent from the State and vote. That is why I don’t vote and why we homeschooled our children. But that’s just me.
I do believe in defensive voting on simple grounds – the government counts your voting as consent to be government, true, but it also counts your not voting as consent to be government. Sure, it’s a contradiction, but it’s a contradiction they like.
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