Brad Miller

Posts Tagged ‘Voting’

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Voting: Meaningful Exercise in Civic Duty or Self Indulgent Dillusion?

In Liberty, True nature of the State on March 6, 2012 at 2:12 am

Vote Or Die.

Just kidding. I don’t buy into that. In fact I wish fewer people would vote. Because if you don’t vote according to what you believe you are expressing the ideas of others through action and violating your first basic duty as a Rational Human being ,which is to think for yourself.

That being said I did think for myself and actually voted early the other day Republican Primary. I have to say it felt good to cast my vote for Ron Paul. Now is this self-delusion or am I actually making a difference in the world?

I’ve voted in the past and have compromised my beliefs in order to do so. My two Senators from Georgia are anything but advocates of Liberty. They were the lesser of the two evils I believe at the time. But how terrible a system does it have to be in order for that to be a comforting type of rationalization that I used to justify my violating what I belive? They support Big Government Programs like TARP and National Defense Authorization Act and most of the other nefarious Government expanding programs. I didn’t vote for my current Representative who is a full-blown collectivist but he has a lot more in common with the Two Republican Senators then most folks think.

Government is the problem; Liberty is the answer.

I will  vote straight Libertarian from now on or not vote at all. I don’t believe voting is the best way to change the world by any means.

The only reason I will choose to do that is to maintain the integrity of my own mind. I’m tired of the argument of choosing between the least “evil” option. Both parties are really one party, The Big Government Party.

The whole amount of attention given to politics is really a lamentable fact in America today. I love when the politicians say it shouldn’t be about politics when discussing an issue, or that the other side is playing politics. When in reality politics is the “theory and practice of government”. So everything a politician does is by default “Political”

Anyway I look forward to a day when every American can go about their business and not have to be concerned at all with what the Federal Government is doing at home or abroad. Not because individuals choose to be voluntarily ignorant or choose to hide their heads in the sand but because the Federal Government is so small it doesn’t interfere with the peaceful transactions of individuals who are pursuing their definition of happiness.

It did feel good to vote for Ron Paul as the candidate for Republican Nominee. But somehow it feels like a hollow victory. The whole two-party system, the Federal Reserve, the 16 trillion-dollar debt, the endless wars overseas, the militarization of the police at home, the ever expanding wars at home against Drugs and imaginary terrorists made me think that punching a button for a candidate makes zero difference in reality.

When I think that I tell myself that is totally wrong. (I talk to myself a lot btw.) . Every thought you have, ever action you take matters. In the grand scheme of things sure, no Federal Election has ever been decided by one vote. Your vote matters because it is like any action you take. It should be one in which you don’t compromise your principles. It is an act of the will.

Emerson has a quote that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately : “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind”.

That sums it up. Your vote should be an extension of that thought. In fact every action we take should be one in which you pay homage to the “sacredness” of the integrity of your own mind. That is the litmus test for all action.

Too often I’ve compromised in my life. I’ve not gone after what I desired because I didn’t think it mattered or I didn’t have the confidence in myself to obtain it. Emerson’s quote really brings into stark relief what is truly important against the back drop of all the  things that do not matter in  this world.

I am responsible for myself and the integrity of my own mind. Integrity is defined as a state of being whole.Your sacred duty is to maintain the “wholeness” of your mind. That is the path I believe to Happiness and isn’t that what we are all truly seeking?

: “Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony”. Gandhi

That is what I’m working towards in my life. Another way to say that is that I am looking for resonance in my life. That sounds like a new age term but in practice it is simply brining into agreement your thoughts and actions. This is the process of creating the external world according to the pattern of your internal thoughts.

How can I possibly have resonance in my life if  I vote for anyone who doesn’t believe that every individual on Earth has God-given Natural Right to their LIfe, Liberty, justly earned Property and the Pursuit of Happiness? The answer is I can’t and I won’t. Not because I believe it will change the external world in any significant way but because if I didn’t it would change my internal mental world in a significant way.It would be a violation of my “integrity”. How many people even talk of integrity any more? I know that is a daily challenge for me.

And with voting at least  I can say with certainty I will not be a party to ”compromise” any longer.

Some Libertarians and Radical Individualists eschew voting all together. I can see that. But I also know I live in a world in which I must breathe, and eat and trade with others. There are things beyond my control and I must live within the world. That being said how I live in this world is totally my choice. I did seriously think about not voting this year. I would say if Ron Paul and Gary Johnson were not running I probably wouldn’t have voted unless there was another candidate who believed in Individual LIberty as they do.

I personally don’t believe Ron Paul will win the Republican Nominee for President. Instead I think he will be more like Obi Wan Kenobi. The Empire will think he has been “struck” down but he will only become more powerful outside of their reality. The State only sees force and power. They want us to believe we as individuals are weak and need to “collectivize” with them in control in order to live. That is false and Ron Paul and Gary Johnson are carrying the mantle of Liberty for us today. It is our job to do so in our own mind first then share that glimpse of the truth we’ve seen with others.

You matter. Your thoughts matter. Your actions matter. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that they don’t.

So to answer my own question do I think Voting is a meaningful Civic Duty? No. Because I abhor the State and any credence we give to “civic duty” is anathema to individualism and Natural RIghts. That being said I don’t think it is self-indulgent delusion either. Thoughts are the most powerful force on Earth. For my money the most powerful thought held in the mind of man is that we are all individuals granted by our Creator with Inalienable Rights. So when we vote as an expression of that idea we are carrying on the battle of  a long line of champions of Liberty stretching back through the centuries. And every Vote for Ron Paul and Gary Johnson is in some way keeping alive the best of what humans can conceive and accomplish, because it’s an expression of the thoughts of Liberty held in the minds of individuals.

The world is changed by ideas and the actions expressed based upon those ideas. That is why I am working to reach 2.3 billion people and help them each spark their own personal revolution. The kind of personal revolution I’m advocating for is one in which the individual understands that he is in control of meeting his needs and fulfilling his dreams. And more importantly that he is capable of doing so. I believe Collectivism grows because of a lack of self-confidence in individuals.

If  a third of the world is confidently pursuing their passion with a faith in their own personal power the shackles of the Collectivists will fall away.A personal revolution of thinking must occur before the external peaceful political revolution can occur.  I get the 33% figure from the fact that only a third of the Colonists wanted to secede From England, a third didn’t care and a third were against it. A majority is not necessary to stop the Collectivist Train.

I believe that once individuals again strive to have as Kierkegaard wrote “perfect faith in themselves and God” we will see an external peaceful political revolution in which Liberty is the norm and any form of government coercion is the aberration. When I talk about God, I refer to not only the deity, how every you define Him, but also to Providence or the Working of the knowable Universe. That is the belief and faith that everything that we desire and work persistently toward we can obtained because the Universe Contains everything we need to meet our needs and fulfill our dreams. Life is awesome. I know too often I’ve lost my awe of this Universe. But I would advocate for everyone to pause during these crazy times and really dwell upon the vastness and interconnectedness of this Amazing Universe we get to call home for only a blink of an eye.

“It is enough that people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.” Joseph  Stalin

The Government that people vote for is  just an expression of their internal thoughts. I choose to spend my time in first clarifying for myself why Liberty is so important and then day by day trying to figure out how to think and live as a free man and then help others to do the same.

“Let him who that would move the world first move himself.” Socrates

So when there are enough individuals who care about their own Individual Liberty and believe and live by the creed of “I can and I will be self-responsible” the Joseph Stalin’s of the world will have no power and there will be no position for them to be in to decide anything for anyone ever again.

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty, Living in Awe and Embracing Life

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Praying and Voting: Abdication of Responsibility or path to Prosperity?

In Liberty, True nature of the State on February 18, 2012 at 1:09 am

Is voting and prayer the opposite of personal responsiblity? Do both actions seek to obtain through force of things that are not obtained through voluntary exchange? Is the supplication to God and Government anathema to the Free Market, Natural Rights and Individual Liberty?

I ask this because I want to get to the heart of why other people seem not to want to be free. There seems to be an almost universal notion that voting and prayer are primary ways of improving your lot in life. Is this type of thinking the reason I am not Free? Does this belief in the reception of things not “earned” the reason why so many people do not consciously pursue a course that would in fact better their lives. And in doing so negate the need for larger and larger State control of resources.

Voting on its surface is taught in the government-owned schools as everyone’s duty. There are campaigns by famous rappers “Vote or die”. WTF? What are we voting for? Does it really matter how we vote? The only reason people vote today is to 1. Get something for nothing or 2. Force others to act in a certain way in order to curry favor with God who will “bless” the Nation and indirectly “bless” those advocating for forced behavior modification.

There is no place in the voting scheme for those who want less government and more freedom. I want nothing from others except what I earn on the open free market through voluntary exchange. For me to gain what I desire I must improve my skills and offer a product or service that someone wants to purchase. If I am not satisfied with the enumeration it is my duty to myself to use rational thought to either abandon my current line of production, make the product cheaper in order to sell to more folks or improve it so it garners more from the buyer.

Voting is a fraud. They want us to feel like we are a part of the machine. They want us to feel like we did our part and our side will win next time. The dirty little secret is that there is only one side, only one Party: THE GOVERNMENT PARTY. And all Voting does is to exemplify Bastiat’s definition of Government which is: ” Government is the great fiction in which everyone endeavors to live at the expense of everyone else.”

And voting is the process by which this appropriation takes place. Franz Oppenheimer wrote that there are only tw0 ways in the world to get things; either through political means or economic means. Government is the political means and the free market is the economic means. Voting is used to secure things by political means which always means by force and coercion. On the free market individuals voluntarily exchange something they value less for what they value more

The argument can be made that when you pray for something is asking God to use force to obtain it for you.  If you look at it logically within the frame-work of the free market and a knowable universe, if you pray for something you did not earn through economic means that only leaves the political means, the coercive forceful way for the attainment of what you desire. Prayer is the supplication to God. It is the act of asking for something from God. And in this thought experiment God is the “force” in which to take from one to give to another.

Some have written that the concept of God most of us grew up with is based  upon on a tyrannical concept much like the Government based upon: Submit or die. In other words hell is used as a means to “force” people to think and behave in a certain just as Government uses the threat of physical death if you don’t Submit to their Earthly edicts.

Now I can see the point in praying if the prayer is like the one Mother Teresa Prayed: “I Pray not to be successful but to be faithful”. If it is about self-improvement prayer can be a means to instill those thought patterns upon the self conscious and thus effect future behavior. That is taking the personal responsible angle. Pray to be better but know that it is still your responsibility to think and to act. You can not escape this and you can’t blame others for your failings.

This maybe at the heart of the type of thinking that makes people feel like they can Vote or Pray their way to making others behave as they wish. I believe that these individuals actually blame others for their failings and seek a more powerful force than themselves to extract retribution on those who have caused their current situation. Whether its the Rich who oppress them or the homos who marry and in doing so call down the wrath of God on all the citizens of America. (Which of course I believe is insane)

Now I blame government for a lot of ills, especially the Federal Reserve, the IRS, the State Dept, the Military etc. But nothing they do allows me to abdicate my responsibility for my thoughts and my actions. I alone must experience the resulting joy or suffering caused by my actions. Praying and Voting can not change that. (The State is still the biggest obstacle to every indivdiual who wants to have more choice in how they live their life, and in doing so the State does limit a person’s ability to act – To Govern always means to LIMIT!!!)

I believe that there is a lot more to thought than we have yet to uncover and I believe that the entire Universe is connected. So there maybe something to “praying” in which your thoughts and desires are transmitted and even transmuted into matter. I don’t know. All I know is that Thought is the most powerful force on Earth and maybe in the Universe. Human thought is incredible if you think about it. (Which when I think of thoughts examining thoughts it makes my head hurt) Everything you do is because of the thoughts that you have. Every action has its birth in your thoughts. Who you are is because of your thoughts.

“As a man thinketh in his heart so he is.”

Now having said that there is nothing produced on Earth for Human consumption without Human Behavior which as Mises wrote is always “purposeful”. Rational action to substitute a less satisfactory state for a more satisfactory state is the purpose of Human Action. Which the value of what constitutes a more or less satisfactory state is an individual judgement and one of the reasons why collectivism is always doomed to fail.

Now with each purposeful action there are consequences and every individual must bear those. Every individual enters into every transaction (every action) expecting to gain a psychic profit, which is another way of saying that they believe, which is the only thing that matters, they expect with each action to substitute a less satisfactory state for a more satisfactory state.

When a lot of folks pray and vote they are attempting to forego the consequences of their previous actions and gain psychic profit without exchanging anything in return. Their thoughts are on obtaining without the means to acquire. The Preachers and Politicians are all too happy to provide the means and it is simple and painless to do requiring almost no effort the part of the voter and the parishioner.

So is that why people don’t want to be free? Is is because no one wants to  take full responsibility for their actions?
Emerson was not a big fan of praying for personal gain. His take was that action was the best prayer. He gave an example of a farmer weeding his garden as an example of effective prayer in his awesome essay Self-Responsibility. I would recommend everyone reading when they are feeling down. You can’t get something for nothing.

Have most of us forgotten this? Have most of us decided to abdicate our responsibility for suffering the consequences of our actions and in doing so given up the right to enjoy the successes of our actions as well?

Ayn Rand would have framed this debate as being between rational thought vs. irrational thought. The popular notion of voting and prayer are both irrational forms of thinking because they allow individuals to believe they have escaped the Universal Law of cause and effect. Which of course is impossible.

I want to be more free. But in order to do that I need others to want to be free. I don’t want to coerce anyone to want to be free that would be a negation of the concept itself. And I don’t want God to alter the physical laws of the Universe to deliver a Bugati into my driveway out of thin air or make a women I have feelings for love me. . These are mere fantasies. This type of prayer degrades a my ability to rationally view myself and  the world. And this limits myability to improve my lot in  life . This is why a lot of folks who don’t believe this turn to Voting and Praying. They are promised by Preachers and Politicians that they can escape the Law of Cause and Effect and get something for nothing.

I want everyone to be free and successful. I believe the best way for that to occur is when man acts rationally, doesn’t seek to make supplications to God or Government to appropriate goods or services without a mutually benefical exchange. (Which all voluntary transactions are.)

By the way only 33% of the colonists wanted to secede from Great Britain, 33% didn’t and 33% didn’t care. Today in America that means we would need 100 million people to want to be free.

A lot of folks want to be free but are fearful of it. They hear they should be self responsible but don’t understand the concept. They hear they should be able to take care of themselves but they don’t know how.

My next post will be all about the link between Confidence, Competence and Freedom. Every thought we have pushes the world towards more or less freedom. From this day On I am being optimistic about the cause of freedom and start organizing 100 million Americans who want to be free. But it all starts with me and the thoughts running around the 7.8 lbs lump of grey matter in my skull. And so it does with you.

You can not prosper in the long run without pursuing your rational self-interest. And you can only do this by using your God-given gift of Reason and that is the only true path to prosperity.

Brad Miller

AdvocateofLiberty

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