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Those who do not vote have the right to complain. And those who do, also have the right because everyone is brainwashed. Government is not some magical entity,
by oleganza 13y ago
Those who do not vote have the right to complain. And those who do, also have the right because everyone is brainwashed. Government is not some magical entity, it is a group of armed bandits who claim to represent the whole society for the "common good" at each individual's expense. It's just religious excuse. People do not deserve to be threatened to surrender property, secrets and liberties that they arrange freely between each other for some "common good" invented by priests and presidents.
Saying "you deserve your government" is like saying "you deserve to be raped because you didn't try to avoid it hard enough".
I don't care about losing money because of taxes. But if government kills people and I cannot withdraw financial support for it, then it bothers me. Then, its real mafia face is exposed. "Go vote for change, but still pay for our activity."
- olalonde 13y ago> Saying "you deserve your government" is like saying "you deserve to be raped because you didn't try to avoid it hard enough". I meant Americans as a group, not the individuals. Also, while I mostly agree with you, I certainly hope you do not get into politics. This kind of discourse is fine amongst people who are already like minded but will assuredly fail to convince anyone who does not already share your ideas. I hope you realize that and tone it down a little according to your audience even if you are right.
- oleganza 13y agoAmericans as a group do not exist. It's a conceptual label. Individuals exist. And if your analysis of what's good for a "group" leads to suffering of individuals, you have some problem. My view of the "group" can be different from yours. To me all people are people, without nations and colors determining "rights" and morality. Who's right?
- oleganza 13y agoI'm not going into politics. People cannot be convinced. Only practical solutions can make certain moral claims irrelevant. E.g. internet makes it irrelevant to discuss "is it good for people to read these heretical books". People will read them anyway. With Bitcoin it will become irrelevant to discuss if money should or should not be inflated. It simply won't be. (If Bitcoin succeeds, of course.) If it's impossible to collect certain taxes, it would be irrelevant to discuss if it's good or bad. People will pay them voluntarily if they like, not under threat as of today.
- sigzero 13y ago"Those who do not vote have the right to complain." Yup, I just won't listen to them.
- CamperBob2 13y agoSo you won't listen to, say, people convicted of minor drug crimes, or who have otherwise been disenfranchised for any of a wide variety of reasons, some good and some not-so-good?
- dragonwriter 13y agoI think most people who make the "people who don't vote..." argument pretty clearly mean "people who choose not to vote", not "people who are denied the opportunity to vote".
- CamperBob2 13y agoBut since it's already been convincingly argued that our "opportunity" to vote just gets us carbon copies of the same policies, isn't that very much like being denied the opportunity to vote in the first place?
- dragonwriter 13y agoNo, its not. Your choice might be limited and imperfect -- and if you think that's the case and are bothered by it than you should be engaged in efforts to change the system that creates that problem as well as voting -- but that limited and imperfect choice is not the same thing as being disenfranchised.
- CamperBob2 13y agoAt which point we've crossed into "Matter of opinion" territory.
- 13y ago