Article by Colonel Nogov on Mar. 24, 2015
Democracy is a horrible concept. It’s mob rule. The majority gets to tell the minority what to do. What to pay in taxes. What they aren’t allowed to do. That’s the theory anyway. It’s not true of course, but it’s perceived as true by the mindless masses. People don’t acquire the right to tell other people what to do simply because there’s more of them. That should be obvious. The people are mindless though, so it’s not obvious to them. To them it seems legitimate and fair. In their small minds they cannot conceive of any other way of organizing society.
This article isn’t about why democracy is bad. It’s about when we, as anarchists, should use their own system against them, and when we shouldn’t participate.
It’s easy to think we should never participate. After all, we don’t want to appear to legitimize their system of oppression. I think this is a mistake. There are occasions when we should absolutely participate.
Voting for human A, B or C should never be done unless it’s required to fill out a ballot. I’ve only voted a couple of times. In those instances, I was allowed to vote for only the things I wished to vote for. I didn’t need to complete the ballot entirely. I don’t know if this is always the case in every jurisdiction. Some jurisdictions may require a complete ballot to be valid. I don’t know. If you’re required to fill out a complete ballot, just toss a coin on the parts where you’re required to pick candidates. One of them is getting elected regardless of what you do. Does it really matter which one?
You should only vote when there are things on the ballot that restrict government or are freedom oriented.
Recently Washington State, Colorado, and Oregon got to vote on marijuana legalization. Activists got the measures on the ballot, bypassing the legislatures, and allowed the people to decide directly. In instances like these you should definitely vote. Remember, in the minds of the peasants, voting is legitimate. So, if something like this passes, the people accept it even if they don’t like it. Freedom issue.
If there’s a ballot measure to increase, decrease, eliminate, or add taxes, this is also a time to vote. Obviously you would vote for decreasing or eliminating a tax. It’s also worth the effort to try to prevent tax increases or new taxes. This usually isn’t an option, but if it is, you should take it. Less taxes equals less government. Restriction of government issue.
Make sure you keep your head on. It’s easy to get caught up in voting, especially if it’s something you believe in. Never vote for regulating industries and items like that. Never vote for how tax money should be spent. It’s tempting sometimes. The hot topic recently is GMO. It’s tempting to want to vote to force labeling, etc. We’re trying to end elections and abolish government, not participate in their system. We use their system against them only when we have specific reasons to do so, only when it moves them towards our goal.
Freedom activists don’t go begging the masters, the legislators to grant them more freedom or less taxes. Standing outside the capital building with a sign that says, [we don’t like what you’re doing], does absolutely nothing. It’s worse than nothing. It shows the masters that you still have a slave mentality. It shows them that you’re still asking for permission. Remember the tea party. Yeah. What did that do? It changed a few names on doors, but otherwise nothing. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
If you’ve got the time and/or money, be a real freedom activist. Get shit on the ballots. Remember restrict government or freedom issues. Here are just a few examples of what you could get on the ballot.
Reducing salaries for legislators
marijuana legalization
Restricting local police forces from acquiring armored vehicles
Reduce funding for police departments
Eliminating or lowering certain taxes, sales tax, state income tax, gas tax, etc.
Eliminate plea bargain sentencing, force the government to jury trial everyone they want to put in jail
Eliminating whole government departments
Reduce funding for the prison system
Make Jury duty voluntary
Eliminate licensing requirements for occupations
You get the idea. It’s usually a matter of getting a certain percentage of signatures on a petition. The percentage is usually pretty small relative to the registered voters.
Getting things like these on the ballots, whether or not they win or lose in the election, is a victory. It puts it on people’s minds. It shows people there are a bunch of us who believe in freedom. If people don’t see us, they don’t know we’re out here. It will sway people. The Republicans and the Democrats use elections to move people towards their goals. It’s time we started using their system to move people towards our goal. When enough people are moved the system will be abolished.
This is just one more strategy to eliminate the state.
