No, Voting Doesn’t Mean You “Support the System”
Listen to Ryan McMaken’s commentary on the Radio Rothbard podcast.
I admit it. I voted
In my home state of Colorado, all voting is by mailed paper ballots. That means, if you’re a registered voter, the county clerk sends you a ballot every election.
And then — at least in my case — it sits there on a table near my desk.
One is supposed to fill it out and then mail it back. Or drop it off in one of the mailbox-like boxes scattered around the city.
Sometimes I do it.
This time around, as the ballot sat there on the table, I kept thinking about the proposed tax increases I could vote “yes” or “no” on.
Like many states in the Western half of the United States, this state makes frequent use of ballot initiatives and referenda in elections. Voters are asked to vote up or down any number of regulations and taxes which the policymakers will be more than happy to implement if they can muster a “yes” from the majority of voters.
I’m certainly not willing to stand in line at a polling place, and I don’t care about getting an “I Voted!” sticker. But I had to admit the opportunity cost of sending in the ballot was really quite low. So, as I am not a big fan of new taxes, I filled out the ballot according to my whims, and sent it in.
Does Voting Mean You Support the Regime?
Nothing about this little anecdote would strike most people as remarkable in any way.
Since at least the nineteenth century, though, there has been a debate over whether or not voting somehow means the voter has agreed to submit to — or even support — whatever the state does.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
