the state represents institutionalized violence, against peaceful people, as a social system. everything that government does is backed through violence or the threat of violence in order to achieve certain goals of controlling people for this reason or that.
in a restaurant last night, i overheard a man complaining to a cashier that if politician A is elected to some office, then we’ll have “queers marrying queers” and that “they’ll be able to get married just like normal folks”. i won’t make a value judgment on this fellow’s opinions concerning gay rights – that isn’t the point of this post – but what was inherent in his comments is that the state should use force or the threat of force to stop people from doing what they have a natural right to do. this individual was so concerned with things that have nothing to do with his own life, with the private affairs of others, that he wants to have the state use violence in order to have his moral code forced upon them. without thinking, he endorses the machinery that may one day force the morality of others upon himself. for those supporting the use of violence as a social system, there will always exist a battle for the reigns of the state in order to, in the fashion of true barbarians, crush those of differing opinions and preferences under the violence of government rule. those supporting the rule of the state, seeking to use it to enforce their own ideals, cannot tolerate diversity, and will go to great lengths to force peaceful people to conform to their preferred morality. some want to stop gay marriage, some want cancer funding, some want war, some want abortion, some want to curtail immigration, some want nothing more than a nebulous notion of “change”.
voting is the first step in participating in the evil system of “people control”. it is a risk-free method for those overly concerned with the private lives of others to impose their values through force. make no mistake, voting is unavoidably violent, since it is an endorsement of state force against various groups of people. Butler Shaffer is quoted as saying, “i don’t vote for the same reason i don’t rob banks or molest children; it is not the way i choose to live my life.”
voting continues the tradition of low-level civil war in american society with groups pitted in a struggle against groups, not peacefully, but with the intent of force should they gain the favor of the state. violence is the mark of a declining society and its institutionalized form is the most dangerous and pervasive type. in such a barbaric society, persuasion is a lost art when so many are indoctrinated to believe that force is the way to fix all problems and that it’s ok to use the self-aggrandized state to advance agendas.
in a time of war and violence, please consider the words of john lennon and “give peace a chance!” DON’T VOTE!