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Permalink Reply by Mark E. Smith on July 20, 2012 at 6:13am

So you feel incompetent and need to appoint guardians to make your decisions for you? And you'd prefer to choose guardians who have no chance whatsoever of getting elected? You know that your vote counts as your voluntary and knowing consent of the governed to be governed by whoever wins, right? Voting means you have enough faith in the system to trust that whoever wins will govern you wisely, even if it isn't those you voted for.

I prefer self-governance. Self-governance is one of those very personal things like breathing, eating, or sleeping. No matter how good another person may be, you can't elect them or pay them or find some other way to have them do it for you, it is something that you have to do yourself. Oh, you can try to delegate your power and responsibilities to other people, and try to choose them wisely, to the extent that the system allows you to pretend that you have a real choice, but nobody can breathe for you, eat for you, sleep for you, or shoulder your responsibilites for you, so the results of your desire to declare yourself incompetent and appoint guardians to manage your affairs will always be unsatisfactory.

And exactly what did good apples like Gary Johnson and Jill Stein ever do to you that you'd want to dump them into a rotten barrel like the US government?

If you really want to read something interesting, try this:

When the Governed Don't Consent

http://www.occupycafe.org/forum/topics/when-the-governed-don-t-consent

Or something more recent about the chances that your vote might be counted: http://fubarandgrill.org/node/1417

So you believe that voting for Johnson or Stein could bring about change, or at least some hope for change? You're opposed to direct democracy and want to help co-opt Occupy into politics as usual, voting for new leaders every few years and wondering why nothing ever changes except for the worse?

If we could vote directly on issues, if our votes were actually counted and were the final say, and if there were a hundred other reforms to our electoral system (getting money out of politics, no gerrymandering, transparency in elections with full public oversight, etc. etc.) I'd consider voting again too. But I'm 72 and I don't want to waste what little time may remain to me helping a capitalist imperialist government get the consent of the governed for torture, genocide, and crimes against humanity, by offering up the illusory hope of candidates with no chance or winning or selfish causes that ignore the price to be paid.

Boycott 2012! It's the compassionate thing to do!

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