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Recently, in response to a conversation with a reader, we discussed the fact that democracy is, in essence, a constant battle to secure government permissions to exercise rights that are, of natural fact, already yours. This is a problem.
And it is by no means the only problem, as we have been discussing here over the last half a year. Imposed government is always morally wrong, and making the government a “democracy” does not fix this fundamental problem. Indeed, it creates problems of its own.
Having had these realizations—both the recent ones and the ones that have been bubbling for many years—I now understand libertarians a lot better than I did previously. I understand why they are frustrated with (and try to distance themselves from) the system, the political process, and the two “teams” that are duking it out for control of this lumbering and vicious beast. I even get why some of them don’t vote.
Not voting, and opting out of participation in the system in general, is not merely a protest or an abdication of responsibility. It is a different approach to the quest to find a brighter future. The argument, in part, goes something like this:
The system is morally unsupportable—it automatically and always violates individual rights even when it is operating correctly. Contrary to the sanitized brochure description of government, it is not the solution to anything. Indeed, it is the source of most of our problems. Its only legitimacy comes from the fact that we grant it legitimacy. Stop doing that.
In essence, they are saying that we cannot move on until we stop pretending that any of this is okay. Participation in the system—and especially insisting that we have no other choice—only serves to perpetuate it. And the human tendency to idolize ‘leaders’ and beg them to rule us just makes it all worse.
This can be further clarified with a related analogy…
The public school system is a monstrosity. It is a jobs program for government workers that provides children with a crappy education as a casual byproduct. Academic outcomes continue to fall, and knowledge is being replaced by indoctrination. (We could go on and on—the problems could fill several books.)
So you have two choices:
You can fight the system: Speak your mind at school board meetings, vote for politicians who promise to fix the situation, beg for school voucher programs, and so on.
You can exit the system: Homeschool your children and build alternative institutions.
Fighting the system grants that system legitimacy. Pulling your kids out of the system deprives that system of oxygen.
I get the fight-the-system mentality. I have had it my whole life (even when I was a kid). But I have finally begun to realize that participating in the system—even if you are fighting it—legitimates the system. It sends a message—to yourself, to your fellows, AND TO THE SYSTEM—that the system is all we have, and all we can ever have. I am no longer willing to consign humanity to that.
Some will naturally object—especially those who have not yet fully accepted this realization—that the system is all we have now, and that we have to make things better now. What choice do we have? I understand this objection, and I believe a synthesis is possible…
There is absolutely no doubt that things can be better or worse under any government, including ours. Who gets elected, and what policies are imposed upon us, does have an impact. Right now, there are highly effective people working in politics and public policy to make the system better (or at least to keep it from getting worse).
Even if the changes they make are only temporary…even if government is morally flawed and democracy is on an unavoidable one-way slide…the actions of these highly effective people do make a difference. Like ancient soldiers forming a shield wall, these people are holding the line. Now we have to ask ourselves…
How long do we make them stay there?
How long must humanity scramble to defend an indefensible system? How long do they stand, their feet trying to gain purchase in the mud, trying to prevent things from going from bad to worse? Their whole lives?
And when their shield-arm finally fails from age and abuse, do they hand off their burden to their children, and they to theirs? When do they get to do something productive, rather than simply engaging in this endless war? When do they get to be happy and feel safe?
How long are we going to go on like this? What are they holding the line FOR?
The answer cannot be that they are just holding the line until they can hand off the same task to the next generation, and so on down into the future, forever. There has to be something better. I have come to believe that Ronald Reagan wasn’t quite right when he said that, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” That remains true so long as we allow it to be so—so long as we continue to fight the current fight as if it is the only possible way to live. It isn’t. We will always have to protect our rights, but at least we can end the practice of empowering a system that violates rights by its very existence, and that automatically places individual freedom in the hands of others.
Once the curtain is pulled back to reveal the fundamental flaws in the system, people begin to ask themselves, as my reader did—At what point do we quit trying to work within the system? At what point do we break away? Should we even vote?
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