Who am I voting for?
My last post, On Anarchism, prompted a couple questions. I responded to one of them there but wanted to create a new post to address the other because it’s a pretty important topic.
Comment from Andy
Time: April 11, 2008, 12:36 amHello Lynx, I thought I’d ask a simple question.
If you had to choose one of the three mainstream candidates, who would it be and why? Or, rather, which candidate do you hate the least?
Just someone interested in political theory, that’s all.
andy,
thanks for the question, it’s a common one so i’ll give you my standard answer: I don’t have to choose any of the mainstream candidates and I’m not going too. Voting for any of them gives explicit consent on my part for the winner of the election to make decisions in my name and on my behalf and that’s not something I’m down to do. You may respond that not voting also gives consent, albeit implicit consent instead of explicit consent – at least that’s the standard argument from advocates of electoral “representative” government – but I disagree. I would point out that by setting up the two mutually exclusive and mutually exhaustive options (voting and not voting) so they each render the same result (consent given) is a very neat rhetorical trick to make it impossible for people to not give consent, but it is only that: a trick.
Ironically, I would argue that elections themselves echo that same false dichotomy. Two options on the ballot which provide the illusion of choice, both of which give the same result: another capitalist/stateist politician, wholly owned by corporate america, in office.
sometimes, when I’m feeling particularly obstinate or when there’s a ballot initiative I particularly like or oppose I’ll go in, vote on all the initiatives (the only time where citizens get a direct vote on legistlation), and then check “other” and write in “none of the above” for all the various offices. I’ve also written myself in for all offices in the past. I actually wrote a song about this recently that’ll be on the next Beltaine’s Fire album. I’ll post the lyrics to it at the end of this post, something I don’t usually do for songs that haven’t been released yet, but it’ll be a few months before the album is ready and I don’t want to wait that long anyway.
long story short: Voting and Elections in a Stateist political system is a fraud and a puppet show at best. At worst it’s a very effective tool to disempower popular movements by tricking activists into putting all their time into campaigns for unaccountable politicians instead of into grass-roots activism that could actually make a difference.
Anyway, here’s the new song. look for it on the second Beltaine’s Fire album, Liberty, due out sometime before the end of the year. hopefully.
None of the Above
I’m so sick of the election dominatin the news
a dozen different candidates, all with the same views
every single one wants more “free trade”
not a single one ‘ll just call a spade a spade
and once they get elected all the promises fade
cuz what they really want is a chance to get paid
government is a business, no doubt about it
so I’m gon’ climb to the rooftops – scream and shout it
sick of fake debates with all the questions screened
all it does is reinforce the same machine
the same platitudes and promises we’ve heard for years
the same war without end playin on our fears
we’ve got everything in common so let’s build together
instead of fightin they wars and getting killed together
They don’t care about us! They ain’t showin us love!
so if you gotta vote, write “none of the above”
call: Which one?
response: none of the above!
c: not this one?
r: no, none of the above!
c: you gotta pick one!
r: yeah, none of the above!
fuck a “lesser evil”, I want none of the above!
neo-cons / neo-liberals, like flippin a dime
democrats & republicans – partners in crime
so quit playin the game, it always ends the same
instead flip the script and rip the campaigns
no candidate can bring change, that’s not how it happens
change is the product of struggle, action
for everyone screamin out “america’s the greatest”
you’re ass is the reason most of the world hates us
we’re number 1 in surveillance & privacy violations,
number one in the size of our prison population
number one in corporate power, lack of democracy,
the biggest funder of terrorism and hypocrisy
the biggest polluter, one of the worst on human rights
the biggest bully on the planet, always looking for a fight
it’s 1 party with 2 heads, when push comes to shove
so if you vote, check “other”, write “none of the above”
call: Which one?
response: none of the above!
c: not this one?
r: no, none of the above!
c: you gotta pick one!
r: yeah, none of the above!
fuck a “lesser evil”, I want none of the above!
we’ve been told so long that we need these bastards
that most of us just sit back and believe it
but the nation state is a recent invention
and if we asked our ancestors, they couldn’t even conceive it
imagine governing ourselves in our local communities
with real and direct democracy
in a world order based on mutual aid,
real freedom and equality,
Nobody on the ballot, nobody in the white house
nobody in the senate, just turn the lights out
if ya gotta have a government then make it local
where at least we the people can be more vocal
no special interests, or lobbying firms
no more pork barrel spending to burn
no more paying for these lyin pigs to oppress us
no one ordering cops to harass and arrest us
nobody running up the national debt
nobody waging war, and before I forget
nobody in the board rooms, no more executives
no more ceo’s who make themselves rich
by cutting our pay, benefits and healthcare
no more taxing us for corporate welfare
no more good cop bad cop hawks and doves
so when I vote, I check “other” & write “none of the above”
Posted: April 11th, 2008 under music, politrix.
Comments: 6
Comments
Comment from Andy
Time: April 11, 2008, 1:56 pm
Yeah, I fully understand why an anarchist would not want to vote, but what if you lived in a place like Australia where folks have to vote in federal elections? Would you just put in your own name, or “Darth Vader” or something? Or would you just take the fine and move on? OR get the fine in the mail but refuse to pay it?
Comment from lynx
Time: April 13, 2008, 12:24 pm
it’s in the lyrics man – if you gotta vote, write “none of the above”
cheers -
Comment from Andy
Time: April 13, 2008, 8:10 pm
All right, thanks.
Comment from Andrew Sydlik
Time: April 26, 2008, 1:28 pm
Hi Lynx,
I was forwarded your site by a mutual friend – Miles. He’s also played some of your music for me. I’m not really into hip-hop, but for what’s it worth, I found it enjoyable. And you definitely have a flow going.
Anyway, I felt like responding to your post on voting. You say that the idea of not-voting is an implicit consent is just a rhetorical trick. I can see that, but at the same time, I have to ask if it is really that simple. The fact that you are living under the leadership at all implies consent doesn’t it? Unless you are living completely outside the American system in a shack somewhere growing your own food , being entirely self-sufficient, doesn’t that already imply that you are willing to live within the system, to some degree.
I don’t like how the election process is set up either. I don’t really understand it completely or why it’s set up the way it is. It doesn’t make much sense to me why it’s so limited – not only to 2 parties, but to one candidate for each party. Obviously you can vote for whoever, but the purpose of primaries is kind of lost on me. Why not allow promotion of multiple candidates from each party?
I suspect that you would say the reason for this is that the government is trying to limit our choice and voice. But I am curious to know the historical reasons behind how all this got set up and also what can be done to change it. I’m sure there are groups out there working on this, but they must be pretty under the radar, because I’ve never heard of them. Something that will take investigation on my end.
If I really voted for who I’d want to be president, I wouldn’t vote for McCain, Clinton, or Obama either. But I’m going to vote for one of them because I feel like, if I’m going to live in this country and participate in its system, even if I don’t agree with a lot of what’s going on, I still want to have some say in what happens, even if I’m being forced into making a choice I’m not completely in agreement with. Although I do have to say I like Obama so far. He’s not perfect and whatever progressive measures he might take, I know he’ll still kowtow to governmental power in ways that will be disadvantageous to the average citizen, but I agree with his decisions and statements a lot more than I do Clinton or McCain.
“Choosing the lesser evil” may seem like a disingenuous concept, but at the same time this is the kind of thing life forces us to do. We can’t always agree 100% with other people and if you’re going to live with others you’re going to have to compromise. Even if we had local governance, I can’t imagine that there would never be compromise. Pure democracy can never really happen because it’s hard to get people to agree on anything! Sometimes I don’t always agree with myself. Things could definitely be a lot better than they are now, but I don’t quite agree that that should mean not participating at all. We do what we can to voice our opinions and work for change. I can see your music as a vehicle for doing that. I guess I just feel like I would rather have some small say than no say at all.
Comment from lynx
Time: April 29, 2008, 2:54 am
andrew,
My beef isn’t just with the United States Government, it’s with State power, period. And State power exists everywhere, there is no place where a person who objects to it can go to escape it. If such a place existed I’d already be living there. But it doesn’t. Thanks to centuries of imperialism and conquest, every square inch of the planet’s habitable surface is claimed by at least one State. so your argument that by failing to ‘drop out’ of the system one consents to it is rubbish. Claiming that by ‘participating in the system’ individuals give consent to State power is like saying that by breathing one agrees that corporations have the right to pollute the air. the alternative to wage labor is starvation, just like the alternative to breathing is suffocation. Consent requires a choice. No choice = no consent. period.
If you honestly feel that your doing something positive by voting for one of the various puppets that our corporate overlords have decided to put forward this year you’re perfectly free to do so. I happen to think it’s a complete and total waste of time and – moreover – an unforgivable distraction from real work that desperately needs to get done. every four years ruling class politicians con millions of working class people into working for them for free and giving them our hard earned money so we can help them gain or retain power for a few more years. I think that’s a crime and I have no desire to participate in it. It is not “compromise” (as you put it) for them to let us choose the “lesser evil,” any more then it’s compromise for a rapist to use a condom.
At the end of the election the only thing that will have changed is the faces and names. the Stateist/Capitalist system will remain completely in place and continue doing exactly what it is designed to do – extracting wealth from the working majority for the benefit of the ruling minority. your vote will have absolutely no effect whatsoever on anything. period. so why waste time and energy on it when there are so many other more effective means of building for change?
cheers,
lynx
ps – re: your question about political parties and why they only nominate 1 person each: political parties are (in theory at least) not part of the government but are actually independent organizations set up for the purpose of gaining power within the government for a specific group. having a single candidate each (or a slate of candidates in European-style Parliamentary systems) means that the party’s members will all (theoretically) vote as a block and thus increase the chance of defeating the other party. it’s nothing to do with ‘the government’ wanting to limit choices, it’s just a simple utilitarian calculation.
Comment from Kap
Time: April 30, 2008, 12:57 pm
Voting in America:
500 years ago there was a genocide on this land. The murderer set up a system of dominance. They call it voting. They let the common man choose who gets to rule! Isn’t that nice of them. It’s like living in a prison and being given the “right” to choose between two people to become warden. No matter who becomes warden: you’re still in jail and everything is the same. But the propaganda is so strong that the other inmates chide those who do not vote in the election for warden. Cuz they want an extra fish stick once a week.
And people flipping out over the Patriot Act? Please. The Patriot Act was signed in 1787: it’s called the constitution. So Ron Paul and his cronies and shove it.
Thank you.
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