Why You Shouldn’t Vote: Top Libertarians Give Their Reasons

Those of us who take the non-aggression principle seriously (libertarians) are not just cynical and think that voting is a waste of time.  We also believe that voting is unethical.

Why, you ask?

It’s actually quite simple.  Since we as individuals do not have the right to  go to our neighbor and, under the threat of violence, coerce him into paying for our healthcare or our child’s schooling, or whatever else,  we don’t have the right to do the same using government “officials” as our agents and labeling such theft as taxation.

We libertarians also believe that the state is an illegitimate institution founded on organized initiation of violence and therefore is in violation of the non-aggression principle.  The state is nothing more than a criminal gang and we do not wish to take part in its sacrament of voting.

Here are some excerpts from some of the top libertarian anarcho-capitalists about voting.

From Lew Rockwell:

The critical problem we face today is the same one all mankind has faced: the State, those monopolists who claim the right to break the laws that they make and enforce. How to restrain them is the critical problem of all sound political thinking. Making matters worse, this gang now has a monopoly on the money and the ability to print it, and they are abusing that power at our expense.

How does voting change the situation? Neither of the candidates for president wants to do anything about the problem. On the contrary, they want to make it worse. This is for a reason. The State owns the “democratic process” as surely as it owns the Departments of Labor and Defense and uses it in ways that benefit the State and no one else.

On the other hand, we do have the freedom not to vote. No one has yet drafted us into the voting booth. I suggest that we exercise this right not to participate. It is one of the few rights we have left. Nonparticipation sends a message that we no longer believe in the racket they have cooked up for us, and we want no part of it.

Chris Rossini of Economic Policy Journal writes:

Today, Presidential Election Day, only comes around every 4 years, so it’s important to really enjoy the moment. And, as usual, I am…by not voting.

Yes, it’s disappointing to see so many that still participate in the government’s sacrament; but, it’s comforting to know that I’m not adding to the tragedy.

And what exactly is that tragedy?

Well, let’s think of it this way:

Very few of us would willingly, and with good conscience, go up to our neighbor’s door and threaten them to give up their property (or else).

In the time that I’ve spent on this Earth, I’ve yet to see one person standing on his neighbor’s porch and yelling “Give me an education!…Give me healthcare!…Give me Insurance!…You must pay! It is my right!”

The reason that people don’t do this is because: (A) The neighbor might whoop them, and/or (B) the government would (ironically) throw them in jail for being a criminal.

Enter Democracy.

And here’s Robert Wenzel of Economic Policy Journal:

Voting is a charade that fools the masses into thinking they have a say and a chance of coming out on top, when the game is indeed played at a very sophisticated level by power players for their benefit, where polls are taken so that politicians know exactly what to say to gain votes, despite what they will do when they are in power. Millions upon millions of votes, in other words, will be  cast that on an individual basis will have zero impact, but will make all those voting “feel good”. It’s dumb.

The founding fathers messed up. They should have written the Constitution without any reference to elections, and started and ended the Constitution this way:

We hold that people should be allowed to live and let live.That they didn’t has resulted in packs of competing power players seeking to change laws in their favor, mostly in an attempt to put more controls on the rest of us. It makes no sense for any of the rest of us to play this game.

When a private property society comes, there will be no voting and no lawmakers. You can start the world on that path. Don’t vote. Live and let live. The more and more people that abide by live and let live, the freer the world gets. No voting required.

And check out some of economist Robert Murphy’s views on non-voting:

The System Is Rigged: The Futility of Politics

Politically Incorrect Thoughts on Voting

And of course George Carlin, even though not necessarily a libertarian, was brilliant on voting: