(image courtesy of inhomelandsecurity.com)
The Dichotomy of Evil
It should go without saying at this point that government, in its form as the functionary f the state, is inherently immoral. What it spends it takes by taxes, which is just a euphemism for expropriation. It bleeds the populace it asserts control over, and in return it allows that populace to think they're safe and secure. After all, government claims, without them, there would be anarchy.
So what good is democracy then? What's inherently moral about any form of government where people are allowed to use violence against each other to take things that they don't have? It's functionally no different than a society that accepts roving bands of raiders and pays them tribute because "it's the right thing to do" or "it's a civic virtue." There's nothing virtuous about extorting people for one's own benefit.
This is doubly true in the republican system in the United States. There is no connection between what people vote politicians in for, and what politicians actually do. Instead, all a vote does is serve to signal to other tax cattle your preferences on who should do the taking and what you thnk the stolen funds should be used for. As if this wasn't bad enough, there is no guarantee that those preferences will even respected by your so-called representatives. Your vote legitimizes and strengthens a ruling class of people who want to extort you and every generation after you to fund their agendas.
Voting for the lesser evil isn't a virtue. It's stupid, and it signals an acceptance of evil that we should really have moved past by now.
Andrei Chira is a vaper, voluntaryist, and all-around cool dude. Formerly a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, he now spends his time between working at VapEscape in Montgomery County, Alabama, contributing to Seeds of Liberty on Facebook and Steemit, and expanding his understanding of...well, everything, with an eye on obtaining a law degree in the future.
"A true democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding on what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote." I believe thats a quote from Benjamin Franklin.
Like war, there is absolutely nothing good about democracy.
There really isn't. Making the lesser of evils argument betrays that the one making it desires evil or believes evil is acceptable. Just like war.
It's all a mental gymnastics exercise to make people think they're doing the right thing. Absolution and pathlogical altruism go hand in hand.
"It's functionally no different than a society that accepts roving bands of raiders and pays them tribute because "it's the right thing to do" or "it's a civic virtue.""
If you believe that, go find a nice country in Africa that's ACTUALLY controlled by warlords and live there for a year. Then come back amd report on how they're "the same."
You're welcome to explain how the two are functionally different. Both the African warlord and the US government extort people of money within the boundaries of their declared authority.
Functionally, they're no different. One is simply more polite and less initially imposing than the other.