[cross-posted at Liberty & Power]
While I’m not entirely persuaded by the strict anti-voting position, I think it’s a useful corrective to mainstream vote-olatry, so I’ve put together a page of anti-voting links. Suggestions for further links are welcome.
The Empirical Me
I’m Roderick T. Long, Professor of Philosophy at Auburn University. I’m an Aristotelean/Wittgensteinian in philosophy and a left-libertarian market anarchist in social theory. (More about me here.) This blog, Austro-Athenian Empire, is a continuation of my earlier blog, archived here.
Hi Roderick,
Now that you’ve brought this topic up again, I’d like to raise an objection to an analogy you’ve used to justify voting: If you had a chance to sneak into the Death Star and try to blow it up; shouldn’t you do that? Or at least shouldn’t we not criticize someone who does that?
It’s true that no analogy is perfect (or it wouldn’t be an analogy, it would be the thing itself), but I think this one isn’t very good, because presumably Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader do not approve of your sneaking onto their ship to blow it up. But in the statists have no problem at all with your voting. “You want to vote for Ron Paul? Go for it! See if we care!”
The system is set up so that voting cannot create a significant threat to the state, the way you could be a significant threat to the Death Star if you were brave enough and knew what you were doing. (For that matter, how much bravery is required to vote — with a secret ballot?)
To continue criticism of the analogy, it isn’t quite analogous for another reason. Luke did not join the empire to blow up the death star as a statist joins the voting system to destroy the state. Luke destroyed the Death Star as an enemy combatant.
presumably Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader do not approve of your sneaking onto their ship to blow it up. But in the statists have no problem at all with your voting
But in Return of the Jedi Palps and Vader deliberately bring Luke aboard the 2nd death star — to their eventual regret.
Luke did not join the empire to blow up the death star as a statist joins the voting system to destroy the state. Luke destroyed the Death Star as an enemy combatant.
Yeah, but before that, Luke did sneak aboard the Death Star disguised as a stormtrooper in order to rescue the princess.
http://www.fee.org/PUBLICATIONS/THE-FREEMAN/article.asp?aid=8273
Thanks Daniel, very good one. Here is another:
Why I Do Not Vote
by Michael Rozeff
http://www.wariscrime.com/2008/09/30/news/why-i-do-not-vote/
But in the statists have no problem at all with your voting. “You want to vote for Ron Paul? Go for it! See if we care!”
Well that’s not quite true. A majority of people in government do not agree with Ron Paul and would adamantly oppose his election (supposing it were a real possibility). A better criticism of Roderick’s argument is the sheer unlikelihood of success of such an endeavor. After all, if you sneak on board the Death Star only to become a junior grade gunner on level 22 then you haven’t substantially advanced the cause of freedom very much.
I’d include the Wendy McElroy speech on not voting, “Act Responsibly, Don’t Vote!” You can find it in a Google search. I’ll post the link later when I have time if no one else posts it.
Thanks! Links added.
Well, Vader may have regretted it, but Anakin didn’t.
And good point about Luke disguising himself as a stormtrooper, but I must also point out that he disguised himself, he didn’t become a stormtrooper.
So what would he have to do to count as becoming, rather than disguising himself as, a stormtrooper? And what’s the analogous line in the political case?
Earlier this week I wrote a short post on the topic: Who Are You Voting For?
He would’ve had to apply for a job as a stormtrooper, not just wear the uniform for a few hours in order to deceive those who would kill him. Applying for a job (assuming they aren’t just specially made clones) would probably include some loyalty oath or test, a review of the applicant’s commitment, and periodic performance reviews once the job is gotten.
And the link to the audio is here: http://www.wendymcelroy.com/audio/McElroy2008/uwmnonvote25feb08.mp3
Well, considering stormtroopers have no power there isn’t really an exact analogy to voting. So, if Roderick doesn’t mind, I’ll change the analogy to running for president(Ron Paul or other preference).
And a good analogy would be Darth Vader stopping the Emperor from killing Luke. Vader would be the president, the emperor would be the system, and Luke would be the anarchists-in-persecution. Vader would have joined for originally good reasons, but been corrupted through time. Seeing his kind(son or former freedom-focused beliefs) being persecuted by the system he would finally end the system, but also destroying himself in the process. Any thoughts on this? Oh and would it be possible to enable being notified of future comments at all?
I wish there was a running tally of new comments on the side of the page like Rad Geek’s site has.
Either that or a way to be notified when a new comment in post you commented in has been added.