tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8175720617718401082.post7596211647598799617..comments2023-10-28T06:31:14.633-07:00Comments on Silent Radical's Blog: The Least You Can Do is Not VoteSilent Radicalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14556828280893757494noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8175720617718401082.post-72883314700672655162008-10-28T16:18:00.000-07:002008-10-28T16:18:00.000-07:00Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I must admit that ...Thanks for the feedback! Yeah, I must admit that I do still find myself wavering on the seemingly predominant anarchist position that we shouldn't vote. On the one hand, I want to do whatever could potentially reduce injustice for people--even if it is just a little bit. If my vote really does matter or make some difference in people’s lives, I’d reluctantly resign myself to doing so. However, I’m still unconvinced that it does. Then I also worry about anarchists appearing uncaring or selfish because of their reluctance to bother voting for the “lesser of two evils.” We know that an anarchist society probably isn’t around the corner and that it may never come, but does that mean that we should bother pursuing some minarchism from the inside? We’ve got people yelling at us for being unrealistic, impractical, unreasonable, and having our standards set way too high. “No representative can ever be perfect,” they say. “That’s why we are for direct self-representation,” we say.<BR/> <BR/>I almost convince myself to vote, but then get to thinking about how weird it would be to exclaim that "I voted for Obama, but I don't support him!" I begin to look at the injustice supported and perpetrated in the past by the so-called “lesser evil” candidates and rapidly lose faith that I can support even a small ounce of justice by voting. Injustice stems too much from the state-government itself that it appears futile. The lesser evil just ends up looking far too evil for me. Even though there are definitely some differences between Obama and McCain, the more I look, the more similar they start to appear. If I vote for Obama, it still feels like I’d be sanctioning whatever evil he does even if there is some good mixed in there somewhere. I’d rather be able to say, “Don’t blame me, I didn’t vote.” <BR/><BR/>Even though I can accept the well-intentioned anarchists who vote, I must admit that I find it worrisome that these anarchists could potentially be reinforcing the Statist propaganda that “it is our duty to vote.” It’s not good if voting anarchists are unwittingly promoting ideas such as: “if you don’t vote, then you have no right to complain.” I think it is very misguided if anarchists are going around promoting the troublesome notion that abstention from voting isn’t a good or even acceptable choice. We must always make it clear that it is perfectly reasonable not to vote when you personally can’t tolerate either candidate. Don’t vote if the candidates don’t appear significantly different from one another or they are simply too far from your own beliefs for you to endure. Don’t vote if you believe it won’t aid the cause of justice, liberty, and equality. We still shouldn’t dogmatically shun those who do vote, but anarchists on both sides of this issue must fight the widespread notion that not voting necessarily makes you a bad, lazy, apathetic, arrogant, or uncaring person.Silent Radicalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14556828280893757494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8175720617718401082.post-68296154372221445762008-10-22T23:02:00.000-07:002008-10-22T23:02:00.000-07:00I have a confession to make: I'm still tempted to ...I have a confession to make: I'm still tempted to vote. Not because I care who the next president is, but just because there's a lot of stupid shit on the ballot in my state that would, if passed, expand government control to insane levels.Corkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08372281253122798100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8175720617718401082.post-73257620991464416142008-10-21T20:06:00.000-07:002008-10-21T20:06:00.000-07:00Good article, well said. Although I'm one of the ...Good article, well said. Although I'm one of the anarchists who finds voting to be useful some of the time, I agree with everything you've written. The point is not whether voting is right or wrong; the point is that it is totally irrelevant to the real task at hand. Obsessing about "the anarchist position on voting" arguably gives it more credit than it's due.Jeremyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08046932749797197182noreply@blogger.com