(My Clovis News Journal column for January 24, 2014)
I may have hinted in the past that I'm not a big fan of voting. I understand the reasoning behind it, and why some liberty advocates still vote- especially in local elections. They argue that they are morally responsible for doing all they can to avoid a fight- even when they believe the fight to be inevitable. When forced to defend themselves or others from the popularly elected police state, they want to know they did everything in their power to seek an alternate outcome.
In my mind this is equivalent to begging a bully to stop hitting you rather than stopping him using self defense. And that's under the best of circumstances. Under the worst, voting is the moral equivalent of ganging up on the unpopular kid to take his lunch money, or force him to be your slave and do your homework. Very few, if any, aspects of life should ever be put to a vote.
Even in cases where voters are allowed to vote themselves a little more liberty, voting avoids responsibility. You shouldn't wait for the laws to change to allow you to do what you already have a right to do, nor to permit you to stop your violators. You should do the right thing now, regardless of permission.
I recently saw someone comparing a national politician's stance on continuing the stupid and evil War on Politically Incorrect Drugs to the Allies in WWII waiting to liberate the death camps until the laws that established them could be overturned. Exactly!
If a person is arrested and imprisoned for something other than aggression or a private property rights violation he is a political prisoner. This doesn't make him bad; it shines the ugly light of truth on those who advocate caging him. Every day he isn't freed, with no conditions put on his release, is another day added to the guilt of those who want him caged.
For the most part, voting led to this situation. If not through an actual vote on the rules that permit political prisoners to languish in a cage, then by electing tyrannical men and women who seek popularity through violating those on some imagined fringe of society.
Liberty isn't generally popular enough to win elections, only fear and hatred seem to have that power. But it is never necessary for the right thing to be made legal before you step up and do it. Waiting for the results of an election to go the right way before you'll do the right thing, especially if you have the power, is cowardly.
I may have hinted in the past that I'm not a big fan of voting. I understand the reasoning behind it, and why some liberty advocates still vote- especially in local elections. They argue that they are morally responsible for doing all they can to avoid a fight- even when they believe the fight to be inevitable. When forced to defend themselves or others from the popularly elected police state, they want to know they did everything in their power to seek an alternate outcome.
In my mind this is equivalent to begging a bully to stop hitting you rather than stopping him using self defense. And that's under the best of circumstances. Under the worst, voting is the moral equivalent of ganging up on the unpopular kid to take his lunch money, or force him to be your slave and do your homework. Very few, if any, aspects of life should ever be put to a vote.
Even in cases where voters are allowed to vote themselves a little more liberty, voting avoids responsibility. You shouldn't wait for the laws to change to allow you to do what you already have a right to do, nor to permit you to stop your violators. You should do the right thing now, regardless of permission.
I recently saw someone comparing a national politician's stance on continuing the stupid and evil War on Politically Incorrect Drugs to the Allies in WWII waiting to liberate the death camps until the laws that established them could be overturned. Exactly!
If a person is arrested and imprisoned for something other than aggression or a private property rights violation he is a political prisoner. This doesn't make him bad; it shines the ugly light of truth on those who advocate caging him. Every day he isn't freed, with no conditions put on his release, is another day added to the guilt of those who want him caged.
For the most part, voting led to this situation. If not through an actual vote on the rules that permit political prisoners to languish in a cage, then by electing tyrannical men and women who seek popularity through violating those on some imagined fringe of society.
Liberty isn't generally popular enough to win elections, only fear and hatred seem to have that power. But it is never necessary for the right thing to be made legal before you step up and do it. Waiting for the results of an election to go the right way before you'll do the right thing, especially if you have the power, is cowardly.
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Thank you to all who have helped out this month. The first of the year has several additional expenses and all help is very welcome. Thanks again!
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