It
all started when YouTube analytics showed that my video PA
Gun Rights Haters Show Their Intolerance was embedded at GunSite
South Africa. I promptly joined the forum. On May 5th I noticed a
thread titled “To
vote or not to vote.......” discussing participating in their
upcoming May
7th elections. Nonvoting being one of my favorite topics I jumped
in urging people to give up voting. After declaring that my post
was “...some of the stupidest shit I have ever read” a moderator
asked “Are
you a 'sovereign citizen'?”. Later, after being accused of
advocating inaction, some Lysander Spooner seemed appropriate. Here's
what I posted:
...people rule you because you accept being ruled. Politicians have
power because people like you think they should have it. Voting is
part of the mechanism to get you to accept that rule. Stop being
fooled by elections. Remember what the doctors say, first do no harm.
Participating in elections does harm. It isn't taking action for
good. It is doing what the power hungry govt wants you to do.
Modern democracy isn't about individuals it's about institutions. Politicians come & go, you get to vote for them. Institutions remain, you don't get to vote for them. Power is in the institutions not the individuals. They want you to think that power is with the individual holding office. That is the big fraud that you're falling for.
Nonvoting isn't a protest, it is a first step in rejecting an institution, namely the state. We need to mentally separate people from the govt. Only once they do that will they resist it in other ways. Real power is controlling money. As long as the govt can force us to pay for their operations they control us. Voting doesn't matter. Resisting taxation is the key to restoring liberty.
"That every man who puts money into the hands of a "government" (so called), puts into its hands a sword which will be used against himself, to extort more money from him, and also to keep him in subjection to its arbitrary will."
--Lysander Spooner, NO TREASON NO. VI. THE CONSTITUTION OF NO AUTHORITY
BTW, an experience that taught me a lot was living in Venezuela. I was there when they elected Hugo Chavez. Tell me again how well voting works.
Modern democracy isn't about individuals it's about institutions. Politicians come & go, you get to vote for them. Institutions remain, you don't get to vote for them. Power is in the institutions not the individuals. They want you to think that power is with the individual holding office. That is the big fraud that you're falling for.
Nonvoting isn't a protest, it is a first step in rejecting an institution, namely the state. We need to mentally separate people from the govt. Only once they do that will they resist it in other ways. Real power is controlling money. As long as the govt can force us to pay for their operations they control us. Voting doesn't matter. Resisting taxation is the key to restoring liberty.
"That every man who puts money into the hands of a "government" (so called), puts into its hands a sword which will be used against himself, to extort more money from him, and also to keep him in subjection to its arbitrary will."
--Lysander Spooner, NO TREASON NO. VI. THE CONSTITUTION OF NO AUTHORITY
BTW, an experience that taught me a lot was living in Venezuela. I was there when they elected Hugo Chavez. Tell me again how well voting works.
From that my nemesis the
moderator somehow decided that I was indeed a sovereign citizen! “And
surprise surprise he is a sovereign citizen.”, he posted. (For
the record I've never had anything to do with the sovereign
citizen movement.) In the next comment someone asks “Soooooo.
We all need to become anarchists?”. At least that commenter
seemed to get were I was coming though his subsequent comments showed
that he was just conflating sovereign citizens and anarchists. There
followed some of the usual nonsense about
who would build roads and the like
then a comment from a second moderator announcing
my banning. (At least I did get one supportive
comment.) Now when one clicks
on my profile one sees this:
An 88? My first thought was
that it was some kind of South African insult. A little research
turned up that an 88
is a Nazi. (For the record I am not now nor have I ever been a
Nazi.) Had all of this been true it would have been quite an
accomplishment being a sovereign citizen, an anarchist, and a Nazi
all at the same time! These South African guys have a lot to learn
not only about political ideologies but also about free and open
discussion. At least their ignorance made for an interesting
cyber-safari.
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