Blagnet.net

Educating for Anarchism, Blagnet.net edition

Mike over at nostate.com has an occasional post entitled Educating for Anarchism, in which he posts real life exchanges of his political beliefs with others. Below, you will find an exchange with my brother in a Facebook message thread (which sadly, is the best means he has of keeping in touch with me – I’m a bad brother). All personal and family related content of the thread have been edited out:

Brother: Oh, can I add some political talk here? I encourage you to go vote your convictions and vote early if you can. We just got back from voting. I know you’re not happy (esp with the presidential election) but if you vote for the best candidate in your view in spite of the odds, then you are truly voting for liberty!!

Me: I think, in some weird way, that you’re encouraging me to go vote, even if it’s for Ron Paul. However, I regret to inform you that I don’t vote. Period. I summed up my reasons for succinctly here: http://www.blagnet.net/2008/09/10/why-i-dont-vote/ Ron Paul was the glowing exception in this past presidential primary because he was the only candidate who stood for almost everything I did, and more importantly, he wanted to STOP running peoples lives. Unfortunately, it seems the general American populace doesn’t like that idea. They’re enamored with the notion that someone out there is going to be in charge, even if they do horrible things in our names ($700 billion bailouts, for example).

Brother: Yeah, honestly I had heard about your article but wasn’t sure how to ask you about it. I had not read it until just now.

I think the unfortunate thing about the country is that at each stage the government has grabbed more responsibility and taken away more rights. It’s part of the cycle of history. I’m just choosing to fight it as best I can. I am just one person after all. I voted for the lesser of two evils…both men are more socialist than I’d like.

P.S. – Doesn’t a vote against anything that takes away liberty say more than the lack of a vote? I mean, if you don’t vote “pro-liberty” on the four GA constitutional amendments (at least), then you’re just leaving it in the hands of someone else…the alternative to voting on the issues is to take matters in your own hands and have a revolution with arms (i.e. big guns and bombs).

Me: From whom did you hear about my article? My facebook status?

I can’t find the quote, but I believe Jefferson once said something to the effect that history has shown us that it is the natural course for government to grow at the expense of liberty. It’s not just this government that confiscates your freedom over time, but any such government you would attempt to implement. Hence why I’m an anarchist.

I’m assuming you voted for McCain, but that letter already spelled out why I don’t vote for the lesser of two evils. To make it more specific to the current political climate, even if I did consider McCain the lesser evil of the two (I don’t – they’re both equally as horrible), giving him my vote is a direct endorsement from me to carry out any action he desires in my name. So while he may give the upper class a 3% tax reduction over Obama, what if he decides to bomb Iran? I certainly don’t want that. But if I gave him my vote, that means he can do it with my full backing. No thanks. Choosing between the lesser of two evils is a false choice. It’s like being asked if you would like to be killed by firing squad or by hanging.

I will admit, I didn’t even realize there were amendments to be considered on the ballot. Maybe I’m a bad citizen after all. However, amending the constitution is a worthless exercise anyway. The constitution – US or Georgia – after all is only a worthless sheet of paper. I imagine when I say that, most people freak out, since the Constitution is supposed to be Holy Writ. And I don’t say that because I dislike the Constitution, but rather because I realize that it is unenforceable. But why should it be? If you and I had entered into a contractual agreement, and then decided that all recourse for violations of that contract would be decided and enforced by me, would it surprise you then if I started to violate the original contract whenever it was beneficial to me? You would think that contract is useless. Why is it then that people think that government is bound by our Constitution when it is also the interpreter and enforcer of it? It’s obvious from American history that the government doesn’t care for it’s own restrictive contract, which the occasional glowing exception.

As for those amendments, I must admit they make for interesting internal debate. For instance, should people get tax cuts for using private land for forest conservation? On one hand, I like tax cuts. On the other, the government shouldn’t tell people what to do with their land. Curious.

As for your revolution, there are other methods I think. One is a revolution of minds – not of arms. In other words, if we educate enough people of the evils of the state, then either we force the state to show their true colors by trying to put down that threat – pulling more people to our cause. Or, and this is the path I think is more likely, letting the state continue on it’s destructive ways until it implodes on itself. Then, hopefully, when rebuilding from the ashes we can convince everyone to not put anything in it’s place.

Anyway, yeah. I’ll let you guys know about dinner.

Me: PS: Also, as a follow up, given that the Constitution is ineffective because the government is the controller of the strings, why is it that you think voting in their rigged system is the correct course of action to bring about effective change? It seems to me that would be the LEAST effective route to take.

It should be noted that I blatantly stole the firing squad/hanging comparison from Mike as well.

Posted in Constitutionality, Education, Family, Philosophy