…and I’ve only just found it again:
It’s a brilliant visual encapsulation of a famous Lysander Spooner quote:
The secret ballot is fundamentally wrong. Two elections in a row have demonstrated its perniciousness – and that’s for people who continue to think there’s anything good about government. Now consider that anyone who votes is ratifying the system voting nominally supports. That’s why the talking heads are always wringing their hands over declining voter turnout.
Are you happy with what governments do? I’m not talking about individual issues or policies, but about government action in aggregate. Apart from killing people in large numbers, robbing everyone they can reach, and regulating every area of human activity in minutest detail, what are they good for?
Government has been a disaster for Mankind since the idea of the State was born. (“A tapeworm with the appetite of a wolf” – Marshall Fritz) Consider the track record of those who’ve claimed for many centuries that the State can be tamed and forced to do only good. Consider their manifold excuses for governments’ mass violence, predation, fraud, and nonperformance at their “proper responsibilities.” Are they really all that persuasive – and are you quite sure you want to be part of that crowd?
Don’t wave those questions aside.
2 comments
The relevant question being what do we replace government with. Historically governments and politics have always drawn those who lust for power and control over others. But in any society larger than a family there MUST be some form of organization to allow for function that serves that group. But historically nothing has ever existed that hasn’t been perverted into an abusive power structure designed to serve those in control. It may be that we are doomed to this reality due to the fact that we are humans. A greedy selfish short sighted species cursed with cleverness but lacking in true intelligence. It would appear humanity is a failed experiment. Doomed to chaos and suffering by our own inherent shortcomings.
Author
Yours is a common opinion. It’s also mistaken. But that’s a subject for another tirade.