Does Voting Matter?
Once again, we are being bombarded with campaign ads pleading for your vote. ‘Tis the season for flag waving and admonitions from all sides to “get out and vote.” You can’t complain if you don’t vote, we are told. Edward Bernays would be proud.
But, is any of this actually true? Does voting have any meaningful effect on the direction government is to take? Or, was Mark Twain right when he said “If voting made any difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.” Did Twain write that, or did someone else? Was it Emma Goldman? Does it matter? Whoever the aphorism is attributed to it rings true. Does anything actually change as a result of an election? Or, does the agenda continue despite who is in office? Has the march toward supreme federal power abated? Sure, each side has its own style, one believes government should spend endlessly to “make the world a better place,” and the other pretends that government should be on a short leash. But, these are just slogans. Government power increases incrementally with every new face that occupies office. Never mind the old Bubba and his cronies, we have young blood that will surely change things. But, nothing really changes, does it?
So, what are we to make if this voting business? Does it actually matter or is it a rouse to convince voters that their vote can actually make a difference in the direction government is taking? I vote for the latter.
There are things you haven’t been told. The original Republic ceased to exist as of 1861 when congress adjourned Sine die-without day. Reconstruction was supposed to restore the original republic but, what really happened is the present commercial system was put in place following the Civil War. It was a triumph of the bankers, who for years were complaining that those pesky United States were mucking up their plans for world dominance. The old monarchies were lamenting their loss of power and longingly looked back to a simpler time when there was only royalty and peasants. Ah, those were the days. Back in the day, people knew their place. Feudalism wasn’t such a bad thing, was it? After all, it’s the natural order of things, isn’t it?
“Kneel before me. I said… KNEEL! Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It’s the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power. For identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel." Loki.
For the most part, as it turns out, Loki was right. Most people will take a bow to those they suppose are superior to them. Many accept as fact that there should be leaders and that those leaders are our betters. It’s all horse hockey, all of it. You’ve been convinced it’s true, not because you gave it any thought, but because someone told you it is true. Do you think it might be time to reassess? Oh, right, thinking is hard and most would rather not engage in the practice. You go, Loki!
Why do people vote in the first place? They vote because they want someone else to do their dirty work for them. Our guy or gal will vote to______________, fill in the blank. What usually occupies that blank space is something that requires force to implement, like higher taxes or more rules for this that or the other. I ask you, what could be more passive-aggressive than voting? On the one hand, you passionately believe the green spotted western tree squirrel is in danger of going extinct (You don’t really know if this is true or not, but it must be because it was on TV) but, on the other hand, you feel powerless to do something about it. So you elect someone who mentions it in a campaign ad. Your guy will kick ass and chew bubble gum on this one, you reason-because he said so. There, problem solved. Whew! another bullet barely dodged! Too bad your guy promptly votes to annihilate said squirrel because some lumber company wrote his or her campaign a large (ish) check once he gets in office. This is needed, you are told, because that damn squirrel stands in the way of a cheap and dependable supply of toothpicks. Can you imagine life without toothpicks? Neither can I. We can’t, simply can’t, have people walking around with bits of the Cobb salad in their teeth. That would be, well, I shutter to think about it.
And so we kneel because we voted. Think about that for a minute. The act that got this scoundrel into office is the act of voting to which we must bow down—because we voted. Voting is a sacrament symbolizing our devotion to an institution that is deaf to our concerns because the people occupying it are more concerned with feathering their own beds than to bother with what the people who voted for them actually want. And, who even knows what that is? Does everyone who voted have the same information regarding our hapless squirrel? Does anyone really know what’s going on out there in the dark forest?
“No serious sociologist any longer believes that the voice of the people expresses any divine or specially wise and lofty idea. The voice of the people expresses the mind of the people, and that mind is made up for it by the group leaders in whom it believes and by those persons who understand the manipulation of public opinion. It is composed of inherited prejudices and symbols and cliches and verbal formulas supplied to them by the leaders.”
― Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda
Voting is a panacea. It’s promise is that our opinion, our voice, matters. It doesn’t. Your guy may actually come through on his or promises occasionally, but the power of government never diminishes—ever. And, if your guy rocks the boat too much, he is promptly removed from power, or worse.
Yeah, but when ___________ was president gas prices were lower, there was little or no inflation and we were at peace with the world. How long did that last? Was he re-elected? Did the prison population go down? Did the court system change significantly? Did the cops stop giving out tickets under the presumption that you are engaged in commerce? Did the IRS stop stealing money from your paycheck? Did it come clean about what an “employee” really is? Do you know? Did you bother to look it up? Does your county cluck demand you pay property tax on your house and home? Did anyone tell you that when you register/record your property as “residential” it really means you are using state property for financial gain? Did they tell you that you are not paying tax on your house or the land it sits on, you are paying a tax for the commercial use of the “title?” Has your state, or the United States, come clean and told you they are actually corporations and that taxation is their business model? Have your “public servants” told you the state can only tax that which it owns or controls? Did they bother to mention that everything government claims to own is actually yours and mine, or more accurately, God’s, and they can only administer that property as trustee? Have the wars stopped? Has the buying power of their commercial paper-you call it money or currency-increased over the years since the Federal Reserve system was put in place? Did you know that what $100 would buy in 1910 now costs $3,124.24? Sure, the rate of inflation may slow with this guy or that gal in office, but it never stops. How can there be any true prosperity when the value of what we use for money isn’t stable?
Has anything really changed and do you think your vote will actually bring about any meaningful change? Have you ever wondered why on every government form you fill out there is always the question, “Are you a US citizen?” Do you know what a US citizen is? Did anyone tell you that what you think a US citizen is and what government claims it is are two different things? Did you you learn in civics class (do they even teach civics anymore?) that a US citizen is a creation of government enabled by the 14th Amendment and there was no such thing prior to that amendment? Did you know that a US citizen is considered an office by the United States and that you are presumed to be occupying that office and therefore a federal “employee” and that’s why they claim you owe them income tax? Did you know that “citizen,” “employee,” “driver,” “voter,” etc. are all legal fictions and that’s it’s impossible for you to be a legal fiction? Did you know that several court cases have determined that a US citizen is a subject of the United States? It doesn’t matter what your opinion about these things is-you are most likely wrong-because these fictions are clearly defined in the statutes. Do statutes apply to you? Did you know that statutes only apply to legal fictions? Has any of this changed because your guy or gal was in office?
The answer is NO.
OK, so what are we to do about it? You can start by not participating. Yeah, but if we stop voting nothing will change, you say. Nothing has changed because you voted. What makes you think by doing the same ineffective thing over and over that it will suddenly make a difference? I know this a hard pill to swallow, but, you have to get over that hurdle. Government can do nothing without your consent and by not participating it is a loud and clear message that you do not approve of what it is doing. Without the clear consent of the people government is powerless. Unless, of course, it resorts to violence and coercion. In that case, as is the case now, wresting power from an illegitimate government becomes a matter of life and death for you and your family.
Think about these things the next time you vote. Remind yourself that you are not a creation of government, you are a creation of God. And the only allegiance you owe is to your creator. Try to remember that government, no matter what form it takes, is always a creation of you and me. That the created can never be superior to its creator. Maybe you will come to the conclusion that governments always fail because the people that occupy government, give it life, are flawed. There can be no such thing as honest government because there is no such thing as a completely honest man or woman.
Government might actually live up to its promise if angels were at the con. But, they are not. It’s just us, and if you’re anything like me, you are wondering if there is a better way.