Thanks for permission to repost! I hope my lengthy intro didn't take away from your essay.
By the way, have you read The Democracy Project by David Graeber by any chance? Despite the bland title, it's a great read! There's an audiobook recommendation too...
In Graeber's defence, he wanted to call it As If We Were Already Free... Oh, the irony!
When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you're using force. And force my friends is violence. The supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived.- Robert Heinlien, starship troopers.
Government is immoral, full stop. Voting to sustain said immorality, in my opinion, is volence. It is also participation in chooing your slave master!! This is a stance I've only arrived at last year. Thanks to Mark Passio!!
"Does Voting Necessarily Legitimize State Authority?"
Just to clarify...
The state doesn't have authority. It's just a big violent gang. It has force and calls it authority. Authority is a superior position through expertise experience and knowledge. A teacher has legitimate authority over their students, thus they submit and learn. A subcontractor obeys the architect the same way everyone listens intently to the journalist interview the well known expert. They are the authority on their subjects. They really do know best. There is no need for force, Just trust.
How can violence against the nonviolent ever be legitimate? Calling perceiving and believing it to be legitimate doesn't make it so.
That said, Yes voting is absolutely necessary to government's CLAIM to legitimacy as well as the people's perception thereof. Elections are at the core of how government functions. Government exists by popular demand. What better claim to legitimacy than to say you are doing as requested?
Who could they claim to represent if no one voted?
By voting you're making an open declaration and essentially participating in a social contract. You're signing your name and making it official that you support and demand the terms and conditions of the election process and government and accept the winner as your legitimate leader.
Coercion is evil because it is a willful violation of self determination. What defines government is that it is based on coercion. Thus voting for government is evil because it willfully demands/imposes a system of violence upon the nonviolent. It is essentially a conspiracy to commit violence.
Voting on something other than government leadershit ( ..like how to manage a local catastrophe or which pub a group of friends is to visit next ) is merely a simplified pragmatic means of making a group decision. Because there is no coercion or other form of violence, it's rightful.
In other words; neither democracy nor voting is, in and of itself, evil. Conspiracy to commit violence is.
Crow, your intro on the history of anarchism vis a vis democracy and voting was very helpful. Thanks.
My pleasure! But don't thank me, thank Zoe Baker. I highly recommend checking out her YouTube channel. She knows her shit!
The System only cares about the System. Always and forever.
It serves itself, democracy is a lie.
Accountability, transparency, blah blah blah, without personal responsibility for every decision it will always be a lie.
We dont need to be governed. People have a right to their pain, mistakes, lessons and growth as well as the opposite.
As for voting, not sure. Ive always taken part but am now questioning that thought process.
Thanks Crow.. Certainly didn't mean to conflate what's for breakfast type voting with the clown show..
Thanks for permission to repost! I hope my lengthy intro didn't take away from your essay.
By the way, have you read The Democracy Project by David Graeber by any chance? Despite the bland title, it's a great read! There's an audiobook recommendation too...
In Graeber's defence, he wanted to call it As If We Were Already Free... Oh, the irony!
Voting may not legitimize state authority but people get lost in believing it means something so it's another form of brainwashing.
agreed! I hope my semantic quibble doesn’t detract from @Nemo Jones’s argument, which I agree with.
When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you're using force. And force my friends is violence. The supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived.- Robert Heinlien, starship troopers.
Government is immoral, full stop. Voting to sustain said immorality, in my opinion, is volence. It is also participation in chooing your slave master!! This is a stance I've only arrived at last year. Thanks to Mark Passio!!
"Does Voting Necessarily Legitimize State Authority?"
Just to clarify...
The state doesn't have authority. It's just a big violent gang. It has force and calls it authority. Authority is a superior position through expertise experience and knowledge. A teacher has legitimate authority over their students, thus they submit and learn. A subcontractor obeys the architect the same way everyone listens intently to the journalist interview the well known expert. They are the authority on their subjects. They really do know best. There is no need for force, Just trust.
How can violence against the nonviolent ever be legitimate? Calling perceiving and believing it to be legitimate doesn't make it so.
That said, Yes voting is absolutely necessary to government's CLAIM to legitimacy as well as the people's perception thereof. Elections are at the core of how government functions. Government exists by popular demand. What better claim to legitimacy than to say you are doing as requested?
Who could they claim to represent if no one voted?
By voting you're making an open declaration and essentially participating in a social contract. You're signing your name and making it official that you support and demand the terms and conditions of the election process and government and accept the winner as your legitimate leader.
Coercion is evil because it is a willful violation of self determination. What defines government is that it is based on coercion. Thus voting for government is evil because it willfully demands/imposes a system of violence upon the nonviolent. It is essentially a conspiracy to commit violence.
Voting on something other than government leadershit ( ..like how to manage a local catastrophe or which pub a group of friends is to visit next ) is merely a simplified pragmatic means of making a group decision. Because there is no coercion or other form of violence, it's rightful.
In other words; neither democracy nor voting is, in and of itself, evil. Conspiracy to commit violence is.