tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6267638155798940768.post251833574183249918..comments2023-05-20T02:55:10.200-07:00Comments on @darjeelingzen: Does Voting Legitimate the System?Darjeelingzenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13459001964917082591noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6267638155798940768.post-7412399599269799092012-07-30T10:08:14.180-07:002012-07-30T10:08:14.180-07:00You are most welcome! At the time that I posted, ...You are most welcome! At the time that I posted, it met my need to contribute to the ideas being expressed and shared at the time; I am well pleased that you or anyone else may have found my thoughts on the matter to be of value.<br /><br />Institutions of domination (coercive-political-systems) are ethically-illegitimate, on this, I believe we would all be in agreement; therefore no amount of voting could ever legitimate or have any bearing on the ethical analysis, as those who vote, could in no way legitimately bind those that abstain or object to the political-system. That a large number of people do participate in elections, is used as the excuse/propaganda of tyrants to subjugate others, could not imply that the excuse/propaganda is legitimate, or that the act of voting has any moral import. <br /><br />I can appreciate that some would like there to be wide-scale boycotts of the polls; they imagine that if 75% (or some other arbitrary majority figure) of the voting public were to boycott the polls in protest, then tyrants would be denied their excuse/propaganda of legitimacy. However, it would not be the boycott of the polls that would cause the tyrants' demise but the fact that a super-majority of persons would be unwilling to comply with their dictates; it would not be the absence of political voting that would imply the abolition of domination, it is that if so many persons were to cease to comply with their dictates, those seeking to subjugate others would be denied the participation/compliance of that majority of individuals. <br /><br />As Lao Tzo wrote, "No one rules, if no one obeys.".<br /><br /> If the same majority of people just stopped voting because of apathy, and not out of principle, it seems to me, that it wouldn't matter if only 10% of the populace voted, the tyrants would still maintain their presumption of legitimacy and could maintain their dominance over others.<br /><br />It would seem to me, perhaps even more efficacious, rather than to boycott the polls, which is easily interpreted as political-apathy, to rather attend the voting process to write-in a candidate; I might suggest the candidate by the name of: "I-do-not-consent-to-your-ruling-domination-over-me Abolish-all-government" (I think it's a foreign name ;-). )Darjeelingzenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13459001964917082591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6267638155798940768.post-41341264795636770032012-07-19T09:37:47.326-07:002012-07-19T09:37:47.326-07:00Thanks for replying to Wendy's post about anar...Thanks for replying to Wendy's post about anarchists who vote:<br /><br />http://dailyanarchist.com/2012/07/11/anarchists-who-vote-are-like-atheists-who-pray/comment-page-1/#comment-132025<br /><br />I also have replied to her post, inspired by what I believe is the clarity of your reply.Lysanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13208420128813883778noreply@blogger.com