6 Good Reasons Never to Vote Again

Whoever grows up in our current society learns from childhood in our educational institutions or in front of the home television how important it is to vote. Before every new election there are countless articles and appeals from government representatives and media houses to participate in the election and “defend our democracy.” The streets of the nation are overwhelmed from all political camps with populist posters. There is talk of civic duty and the election of people’s representatives. However, anyone who pauses for a quiet moment and looks left and right might recognize the inherent double standard, hatred, and division that lies like an invisible veil over our society. Since belief in the state is one of the cornerstones of this society, it may be time to question this system. The division of humanity into states with elected governments from left to right and the resulting inevitability of systematic violence and coercion is possibly not the glue of our society but the reason for so much suffering and trauma.

We have formulated six good reasons to free oneself from this false game and never again participate in a political election:

You Live in Accordance with Your Own Values and Principles

The existing social order, which is often called democracy in today’s social parlance, allows a few rulers to impose their worldview on all other citizens. This so-called state order of every country is based on violence and coercion and justifies immoral behavior in the name of an invisible, ruling authority. The systematic killing, imprisoning, and extorting of other people through wars, laws, prisons, and taxes is only considered right and unavoidable because it comes from a state authority. Looking at the recent history of humanity with all its wars, genocides, and state arbitrary rule, one can describe this omnipresent belief in the state as the greatest and most dangerous religion in the world. Nothing has brought as much suffering and death upon humanity as the unfounded belief in a state authority. A person who is reasonably free from false value systems and social conditioning can therefore never reconcile participation in this system with their own values and principles.

You Do Not Stand with Your Name for Systematic Violence

By participating in this state ritual and actively casting one’s own ballot, one consciously and in one’s own name participates in the existing social order. Before the election, one knows the rules of the game and the possible consequences, and by participating, one accepts these. One thereby accepts the existing social order and thus personally stands for every war and every initiated violence that emanates from the state and government from that moment on. Even if the favored party does not come to power, one has known the existing conditions and the possible consequences of the resulting election outcome in advance. One therefore also bears all the consequences. For if one fundamentally assumes that it is wrong to impose a different worldview on other people with violence and coercion, then one should never support such a system, let alone participate in it.

Because the State Does Not Represent the People

The term democracy is composed of the Greek words demos (people) and kratos (power, rule) and means in theory “rule by the people.” In practice, the opposite picture presents itself. Looking at the German federal election of 2021, for example, the non-voters were in absolute numbers with 24% the largest party in Germany. Every fourth eligible voter in Germany rejects for their own good reasons this entire system of rulers and ruled and is completely bypassed in this social system. In most other countries these numbers are even higher. The remaining 75% elect their people’s representatives from a selected circle of established parties because they believe they are participating in political affairs thereby. Once in power, these selected politicians can then work independently of their electoral program on their own career, maintaining their power, and profitable lobbying. The number of people over whom such a person can then determine depends on how much one wants to satisfy one’s own need for power, how loyally one obeys the next higher office, and how successful one’s own lobbying is. In such a social order, ignorance and confusion reign, but not the people.

You Preserve Your Right to Self-Determination

A political election resembles a sacred ritual of a group of believers. At regular intervals, all believers are called to a certain date for the oath. Each participant casts a pre-made slip into a so-called ballot box, in which they secretly elect their preferred ruler for the next few years. The term ballot box is interestingly chosen, since one is burying one’s own self-determination. In a cult-like ceremony, active consent is given to a third entity to determine one’s own life. Then the disciples wait eagerly for the announcement of the result by the higher authority. At the end of the ceremony, every believer knows who they must obey for the coming period and goes back to work, with which they finance precisely that newly elected higher authority to determine their life. If one is able to view these cult-like proceedings apart from any social conditioning, one finds that going to the ballot box is above all a spiritual act that undermines one’s own natural rights. Every person has a natural right to self-determination, and no other person has the right to determine their life. Therefore, we cannot give this non-existent right away through any however peculiar ceremony, because we never possessed it.

Because You Are Worth More

At this point, everyone can consider how much time they spend informing themselves about political events in their own country and in the world through the usual media channels. Then one can ask how often this information emotionally stirs and occupies one. I can say from personal experience that it is very beneficial for one’s own mental health to see the political stage for what it is: a large staged theater for dividing and distracting people. This releasing of false value systems also frees up much energy and time. Above all, it is empowering to realize that only you yourself can change something in life and that you no longer have to rely on external authorities in hypocritical societies. You are worth so much more!

Because There is Another Way

Contrary to the general opinion that this “democratic social order” consisting of rulers and ruled, country borders, and social contracts is the only functioning form of coexistence on this earth, there are and always have been other ways. With the study of natural law, the philosophy of agorism, and its core strategy of counter-economics, free humanity has a concrete guide for breaking through this dogmatic and outdated social order. In addition, with the internet or blockchain crypto technology, there are increasingly more decentralized technologies that enable independent information acquisition, communication, or the exchange of goods and services. It is important to use one’s own energy in accordance with one’s personal principles to create a better self and a better world. The necessary information is already available — now it is up to you!

“We are not subjects of a superior rule of law, but members of a society built on revolution. Revolution is our obligation — our hope for evolution.”

[Ursula K. le Guin]