I've heard that argument before, and believe that it is exactly the other way around. If you do vote, then you don't get to complain about the results, because you implicitly or explicitly accept the legitimacy of majority (or, more often, plurality) rule. I do not.
It is not simply disgust with the choices available (though they do offend me), but opposition to democracy in general, that will keep me from the polling place. Someone as opposed to democracy as I am ought not participate in it. And I can always find better uses for that time. :-)
I'm not a fan of majority rule, either. That being said, it's the system under which I live. If I vote for someone who loses, I had my say and was shouted down. If the winner therefore is an asshole, hey, I tried. Meanwhile, if I vote for someone who wins and thereafter turns out to be an asshole, mea culpa. Won't vote for that fool again.
On the other hand, I've said the same thing that you said here; if I don't believe in the process, I have no business supporting it. Given the opportunity, I'll create something else, somewhere else. Until then... (shrug) Either way, it's your choice. I'm fairly glad we don't live under a system where casting a ballot is mandatory, even if you do show up only to sign your name on a blank sheet of paper or just to write "none of the above" all over it.
Re: Opposition To DemocracynsingmanNovember 7 2006, 16:47:27 UTC
No, my dear friend. A monarchy is being ruled by one. An oligarchy is being ruled by a few. A democracy is being ruled by many. What I oppose is being ruled.
Re: Opposition To DemocracynsingmanNovember 7 2006, 20:18:32 UTC
A chilling thought, but my Congressman is Democrat Bill Pascrell (NJ-8), and I'm in the People's State of New Jersey, and surrounded by socialists. Even were I to vote, it wouldn't matter; the dirtbag would win in a landslide.
while Speaker Pelosi may not be to your liking, I'm hopeful that she'll be better in the job than the pathetic hypocrisy we've had to face from Republicans since 1994. The "Contract With America" dies tonight, once and for all.
Pelosi will be awful, but hopefully not too effective. Even if the Democrats take the Senate (the House is a foregone conclusion, and that doesn't bother me too much, because spending bills originate there and the Republicans have put the drunkest sailors to shame), they won't have a veto-proof majority. I'm hoping for lots of gridlock, and maybe even (hope against hope!) a federal government shutdown. Maybe, finally, Dumbya will use that veto pen with some regularity.
Re: Opposition To DemocracymontecristoNovember 7 2006, 18:37:47 UTC
"It is bad to be oppressed by a minority, but it is worse to be oppressed by a majority. For there is a reserve of latent power in the masses which, if it is called into play, the minority can seldom resist. But from the absolute will of an entire people there is no appeal, no redemption, no refuge but treason." -- Lord Acton"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing. Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the People, who have... a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean the characters and conduct of their rulers. There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free 'government' ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty. Liberty cannot be
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Re: Opposition To DemocracynsingmanNovember 7 2006, 19:06:23 UTC
A nice selection of quotes, there! I'd include the following from Thoreau's Civil Disobedience"All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions; and betting naturally accompanies it. The character of the voters is not staked. I cast my vote, perchance, as I think right; but I am not vitally concerned that that right should prevail. I am willing to leave it to the majority. Its obligation, therefore, never exceeds that of expediency. Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority. There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men. When the majority shall at length vote for the abolition of slavery, it will be because they are indifferent to slavery, or because there is but little slavery left to be abolished by their vote. They will then be
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It is not simply disgust with the choices available (though they do offend me), but opposition to democracy in general, that will keep me from the polling place. Someone as opposed to democracy as I am ought not participate in it. And I can always find better uses for that time. :-)
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On the other hand, I've said the same thing that you said here; if I don't believe in the process, I have no business supporting it. Given the opportunity, I'll create something else, somewhere else. Until then... (shrug) Either way, it's your choice. I'm fairly glad we don't live under a system where casting a ballot is mandatory, even if you do show up only to sign your name on a blank sheet of paper or just to write "none of the above" all over it.
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I'm an optimist; it's my nature. :-)
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-- Lord Acton"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing. Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the People, who have... a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean the characters and conduct of their rulers. There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free 'government' ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty. Liberty cannot be ( ... )
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"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard."
-- H. L. Mencken
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