Five reasons why I’m boycotting the vote

In short, here is why I won’t vote: it is a waste of time, it will have no meaningful impact on the outcome even if my candidate wins, it sanctions a fundamentally immoral process, and any notion that third party candidate will make a difference is a fantasy.

Today is the last day to register to vote. Here is why I am boycotting the vote:

First, the only thing which is practically guaranteed to happen from my registering to vote is that I will be drafted for jury duty.
In most places, jury duty is based on voter registration, and since so few people register to vote, there is a good chance you will be drafted within a few months of registering to vote.
I have nothing against serving on a jury, but in the USA, something like 97% of cases are settled before the jury gets to decide anything. It’s quite likely that all that will happen is a day wasted at court. Even if you are picked as a jury pool candidate, if you have any strong opinions either way, you will be disqualified. So forget any chance of having a positive impact on the law – the system is stacked against jurors changing the outcome from what the legal system demands. The conviction rate in the USA is about 90%.

Second, your vote makes no practical difference on the election. Your individual vote is extremely unlikely to make any difference.
In terms of return on investment, the return on several hours of your time is virtually nil.

Third, even if your prefered candidate wins, there is no guarantee that he will make good on his campaign promises. Remember when Obama said his would be “the most transparent administration ever”? How did that go? In fact most politicians are the figurehead of an entrenched bureaucracy, and have no power to change its momentum.

Fourth, the process of voting in a democratic system of governance is inherently immoral. A just social-political system is one which is consistent with human nature and moral principles. The opinion of any number of people does not make the law any moral than an edict by one man. I’m not suggesting dictatorship – only that the process by which the law is made is irrelevant as to the morality of the resulting social-political system. However, violent interference in other people’s lives is immoral – whether it’s done by a thief in a dark alley, or by a majority vote on election day. Any system which permits peoples to vote to coerce upon others is immoral – and so is participation in such a system. Since all actions taken by a government funded by involuntary taxation are coercive, so is any sanction of such a system. This sanction matters: a politician elected by 2% of the public has a lot less mandate than one elected by 98%. Less mandate by politicians means more freedom by the people to build a better society.

Fifth, let’s consider the upcoming 2016 presidential election and the Libertarian option. Mainstream surveys show that majority of public does not like either major party candidate.  Yet despite this, it is virtually certain that one of them will win. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson is very unlikely to break into the double digits. If a third party alternative is hopeless against the two most repulsive candidates in living memory, there is truly no chance for a third party to win the election.  Voting is therefore a distraction from superior strategies – such as entrepreneurship or judicial activism.

In short, here is why I won’t vote: it is a waste of time, it will have no meaningful impact on the outcome even if my candidate wins, it sanctions a fundamentally immoral process, and any notion that third party candidate will make a difference is a fantasy.

7 thoughts on “Five reasons why I’m boycotting the vote”

  1. Voting is the means by which we peacefully change power. It is an unprecedented advancement of civilization. Not voting is a vote to revert to a less civilized means of transferring power. It is similar to the Amish choosing not to use electricity or the fundamentalist Muslims refusal to recognize the rights of women. It is a rejection of the progress of civilization. Not voting is an indication that you do not intend to make a peaceful transition of power work. That you are waiting for the previous method of changing power by blood and death.

    1. What is the means by which we peacefully eliminate power?

      As David wrote, [entrepreneurship](https://localbitcoins.com/) and [judicial activism](http://litmocracy.blogspot.com/2016/04/toward-voluntary-justice.html). He used different links, and I’m not sure my judicial activism is the same as his, but liberty enjoys the multiple-tack approach, another way we peacefully eliminate power. And I can think of even a fourth way, and that is to [leverage whatever small bits of goodness are already in the law](http://losthorizons.com/The16th.htm).

  2. “Voting is the means by which we peacefully change power.”

    But it’s not at all peaceful, Michael. Voters are simply using the guns of the state to commit their violence via proxy. It is morally the same as hiring a thug or a hit man. To some extent I agree with those who argue that voting can be characterized as an act of self defense, but it’s still violence. No–the voting booth is the most violent place on earth! When people come to recognize the immorality of voting, an unprecedented advance of civilization will occur.

  3. Well, first off the list is that Gary Johnson HAS broken into double digits in polling and second is that those who never try, never succeed. Keep cowering under the blanket and eventually the thunderstorm will pass.

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