100 Things You Can’t Complain About If You Don’t Care About Voting, Or If You Think Voting Is Unimportant
Laws are only passed 3 ways in this country: By the courts, by politicians or by the voters. The courts are chosen by politicians. Politicians are chosen by voters. Voters vote for laws, but they also vote for the politicians that choose who sits on the courts, therefore all laws are created directly or indirectly because of the voters’ actions.
I’m a firm believer that if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain, but what does that really mean? Most people have no idea how many things that they complain about that are effected by the voters, so I decided to list 100 of them.
If you don’t vote, or you think voting is unimportant, you are no longer allowed to complain about any of these things, since they are all directly or indirectly affected by how you vote. If you think voting doesn’t matter, but you continue to complain about these things, you are a hypocrite.
1. Corruption In The Judicial System
2. Corrupt Politicians
3. Voter’s Rights
4. Taxes
5. Immigrants Rights
6. Illegal Narcotics
7. Healthcare
8. The Economy
9. Potholes
10. Food Prices
11. Same-sex Marriage
12. Wars
13. Unemployment
14. The Cost Of Living
15. Social Security Benefits
16. Animal Rights
17. Fracking
18. Eminent Domain
19. Corporate Monopolies
20. Jobs Being Shipped Overseas
21. Damage To The Environment
22. The Death Penalty
23. Hunting Laws
24. Business Regulations
25. The Minimum Wage
26. Medicare
27. Gun Control Laws
28. Medications That Haven’t Been Properly Tested
29. Politics
30. Illegal Immigration
31. Excessive Police Force
32. Equality For Women
33. Food Quality
34. Violations Of Civil Rights
35. Tenants Rights
36. Racial Equality
37. Water Quality
38. Bullying Laws
39. Cybercrime
40. Airport Security Screenings
41. Medical Marijuana
42. Religion In Government
43. Corporate Personhood
44. The Murder Rate
45. Air Quality
46. Predatory Lending Practices
47. Income Inequality
48. The Decline Of The Postal Service
49. Unfair Business Practices
50. Crime
51. Mental Health Services
52. Dirty Public Beaches
53. Lack Of Bike Lanes
54. The Percentage Of Products Made In Foreign Countries
55. The Debt And Deficit
56. Corporate Control Over The Media
57. Poverty
58. National Policy
59. Lack Of Government Oversight
60. Excessive Government Spending
61. Poorly Maintained National Parks
62. Lack Of Quality Public Programming
63. Education Standards
64. Public Health
65. Working Conditions
66. For-Profit Health Insurance
67. Mandatory Minimum Sentencing
68. Lobbyists
69. The Federal Reserve
70. TORT Reform
71. Lack Of Affordable Housing
72. Access To Quality Medical Care
73. Tax Loopholes
74. Abortion
75. Lack Of Public Parks
76. Foreign Policy
77. Public Safety
78. Labor Laws
79. The 3 Strikes Law
80. The Value Of The Dollar
81. Close Elections
82. Uneducated People
83. Tolls
84. Intersections That Need Stop Signs
85. Gas Prices
86. Stagflation
87. Abuse Of Power
88. The Supreme Court’s Decisions
89. Vehicle Standards
90. Lack Of Quality Political Candidates
91. Veterans Benefits
92. Lack Of Access To Childcare
93. Government Waste
94. Military Spending
95. Social Justice
96. Services For The Developmentally Disabled
97. Communism
98. Capitalism
99. Socialism
100. Fascism
If you don’t vote, don’t complain, because voting effects a lot more than you realize.
Originally published September 16th, 2011
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Author: Matthew Desmond
3:36 pm
Well, it’s a grabber headline for sure, but I thought the whole 1st Amendment/Freedom of Speech thing meant I actually AM allowed to say anything I want, whether or not I voted and especially whether you approve or not.
Is it now a privilege that is granted upon registering with the appropriate governing authority?
7:40 am
If you vote you have no right to complain. We have a corrupt one party system and by voting g for one corporate goon or the next we aren’t declairing a political stance rather we are saying ok to the status quote in politics we are saying sure keep lying and we will keep buying into the good cop bad cop cycle of endless bad politicking. This is the most un-American statement I’ve read on this site. Indeedthis writer should rethink their irrational pseudo leftist prattle voting does more to subvert our freedom then not voting.
3:52 am
FYI, the state of Nevada allows people to vote for “None of These Candidates” in presidential and statewide contests (Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Controller, Attorney General, Justice of the Supreme Court).
BTW, for those of you who don’t like voting, what alternative do you suggest, e.g., dictatorship, monarchy, theocracy…?
8:44 am
Imagine I were to imprison millions of people, with vastly different, tastes, values, ideologies, moral/ethical beliefs, faiths, etc, and offer you illegitimate power of attorney to elect another totally unpredictable, virtually unknown, power of attorney over them, to make decisions for them, against their will, would you accept this power?
Apparently the answer to this question amongst “libertarian voters” so-called, is yes, they would, especially if they are in this prison as well. In this short essay, I intend to show that by doing so, these “libertarian voters” so-called, themselves become politicians, and members of the involuntarily inclusive and coercive State, and surrender any logical right to object to the States jurisdiction they are forced to live under, because they are essentially objecting to themselves.
Let’s review,
So the story goes:
The coercive, involuntarily inclusive State / political class / political office holders (henceforth simply, “the State”), begins to initiate aggression against individuals throughout the world, with the moral sanction of only some of these individuals. The State then offers most adults in it’s claimed mala prohibita (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malum_prohibitum) enforcing legal jurisdiction, the power to anonymously vote, from a list approved by the State, which individuals will be allowed into it’s ranks, and therefore into authority over all in the States claimed jurisdiction, these individuals motives, and future actions are completely unpredictable, uncontrollable by those that anonymously select them, and therefore entirely indiscernible from one another, prior to their taking office (these people that are to be selected I will call “candidates”). This selecting goes on against the wishes of many, if not most in the States claimed jurisdiction.
Most States do not force anybody to make this anonymous selection, and there exist means of resisting the State, outside of this State granted power to select candidates for everybody else. Nobody knows what would happen if nobody, or very few, accepted, and used this power to anonymously choose a candidate for everybody else, and nobody knows that it would be impossible for those that oppose the State, to throw off it’s claimed authority from them, without using this power to anonymously select candidates for everybody else, therefore nobody knows if this scenario is a lifeboat scenario or not, in fact there are many examples in history of people doing just that, without accepting their respective States power to anonymously select candidates for others against their wishes.
So called “libertarian voters” (henceforth simply “proxyists”) concede that it was immoral for the State to take this power, but claim that it is morally just for them to accept it from the State, to select candidates for others against their wishes. Proxyists claim that the power they are using was not first taken by them, and that they are only accepting, and using it after it was taken by force, by the State. Proxyists proudly, and confidently predict, that in the future, the candidates they know little to nothing about (but will still anonymously choose for everybody else against their wishes), will reduce, or abolish the use of the illegitimate power they will posses when they become members of the State. Proxyists also claim that by accepting the States offer, and anonymously choosing candidates for everybody else against their wishes, they are not consenting to the system whereby other voters, not claiming to be libertarians (commonly referred to as “Statists,” even by these so-called “libertarian voters”), use the same exact power, in the same exact fashion to anonymously vote candidates over them, and others.
Right is right, wrong is wrong, and voting in this coercive, involuntarily inclusive system is definitely wrong, so I really don’t care much for arguments from practicality, or expediency, etc, but I will say this, if you decide to come to the libertarian position on voting, but would still rather see a “liberty” candidate win, or receive increased attention from those that choose to continue voting (statists), You can work towards both simultaneously with one stone. You can denounce voting rulers over others, denounce politically (that is to say violently), making decisions for others against their will, AND still help liberty candidates. The best way to do that is to teach those that still decide to vote, about liberty and the non-aggression axiom. The more someone learns about liberty, the more likely they are to vote for these so-called “liberty” candidates anyway, even without you advocating that they do so, that is until they finally figure out that it’s wrong, then they will have nothing left to turn to but ACTION, instead of political, proxy, counter productive, inaction. For example, if you fail to convince someone that voting is immoral, but that taxation or aggressive war is wrong, and NEVER ethical, which candidate running for the office of president right now is going to stand out to them? Mitt Romney? Obama? I don’t think so.
As a libertarian anarchist, panarchist, and conscientious non-voter, I believe it is only moral to accept the power to choose candidates, for membership in a State, when everyone in the respective State’s claimed mala prohibita enforcing legal jurisdiction, has consented to it’s jurisdiction, power, and authority. I believe that it is peoples willingness to collude with the involuntarily inclusive State, accept illegitimate power from it, and take liberty in manipulating others freedoms, that is the PRIMARY barrier to the realization of a libertarian society, and the respect for individual rights necessary for maintaining it. Until a governing body / legal jurisdiction exists, that I am a consenting member of, wherein all power to enforce mala prohibita is derived from the consent of the governed, I will only support direct action, and civil disobedience, as forms of resistance to current coercive States. These are the only means of resistance I am aware of consistent with the non-aggression principle, the foundation of libertarian theory.
6:36 am
Affects, not effects. And I vote.
10:56 pm
No response…other going all pendant on a typo…typical of those who cling to an irrational need to convince themselves that voting serves any purpose in a system rigged by oligarchic corporatism i.e., evading-the-point pettiness shielding toxic innocence.
8:23 pm
I firmly believe that if we could rally voters from large (e.g. L.A., San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, New York, Tampa, Dayton, Indianapolis, Nashville, etc) metro areas—especially those voters who normally don’t vote—to vote then the Democratic party would have MORE than enough support to take back Congress. And once it’s taken back, WE–The People–will finally have a voice. That is, as long as we let our demands be known loud and clear and that we NEVER allow our country to become so divided again at the leisure/profit of politicians.