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