Brad over at WendyMcElroy.com points out something so simple that I plan to use it in the future when discussing whether one should bother voting:

Reflecting on some of the last week’s posts, I realize that there is strategic knowledge to be gained from observing the reaction of politicians and bureaucrats. Put bluntly: if something gives them the itch, or moves them to complain, then that something is probably effectively attacking their jobs…and quite possibly weakening the State….

I see that it is not third parties, but rather voter non-participation, that upsets the statists of every stripe. They encourage fringe parties, no doubt as a dumping ground for malcontents. But every year they get in a lather about “get out and vote!” And someone who dares to advocate non-voting is vilified and shunned even more than a member of the Communist Party.

THAT is an excellent reason NOT to vote. It should (and does) tell us a lot that the two leading parties (and indeed, all politicians) are comfortable as long as we go to the polls, regardless of which chad we punch. Their asses are chapped only when we do something as (HORROR!) un-American as refusing to vote.

PintOfStout over at Murphy’s Bye-Laws writes yet another excellent piece:

There are two reasons voting persists even though the choices almost all crawl from the same cesspool. The first reason is to keep those that are being extorted from flat-out stringing them up. This is accomplished by slapping some hooker-red lipstick on this pig and promising the booboisie anything they want, including respecting them in the morning. The second reason to keep up the voting illusion is to roll everyone, participant or not, into culpability for the actions of the few in control.

Precisely. Voting is an illusion… the Blue Pill. Nothing more than a feel-good measure to keep people believing that their input matters. Every single voter out there can recall at least one instance (if not more) when voters have had their say only to watch politicans and other bureaucratic slime do an end-around the voters, usually in a manner so underhanded that the blood boils.

To keep voting fits the definition of insanity–trying the same thing expecting different results. It matters not which mouth-breathing warm body is occupying a given office. Voting for the Other Party won’t fix it. But few folks learn this cycle and opt out of it entirely. Even I haven’t been able to entirely divest myself of the bad habit of voting. Surely there’s a 12-step program for this…

In a means over ends approach of Voluntaryists, proper class struggle will be framed by means (political or productive) and not ends (rich and poor or labor and owner).

Describing politics as the diametric opposition to production is dead-on-balls accurate (it’s an industry term). A struggle between the givers and the takers. Between the doers and the leeches.

The older I get, the less I appreciate the automatic bashing of the wealthy solely because of the bottom line on their bank statements. Whenever someone starts to vilify the wealthy in my presence, I feel my attention and respect for them slip away, and unfortunately, hating the rich is trendy, so this happens all too often. Granted, many of the wealthy have racked up laundry lists of reasons to dislike them–supporting government protectionism that drives out their competitors, subsidies, grants, property theft through eminent domain–but wealth alone is NOT sufficient reason to put someone on the other side of the disagreement.

Nice one, Stout.

Renton foe of computerized voting is featured in HBO documentary

On Thursday at 9 p.m., HBO will air “Hacking Democracy,” a 90-minute documentary that chronicles Harris’ quest to expose security holes in computerized voting systems, which she says could be exploited by computer hackers and, worse, never discovered because of the lack of a paper trail. Her nonprofit, Black Box Voting, monitors election integrity.

“She’s like the Erin Brockovich of the voting-machine world,” said Sarah Teale, an executive producer whose previous films include “Dealing Dogs” and “Bellevue: Inside Out” (about the New York City psychiatric hospital, not the city on the Eastside).

Two British filmmakers tail Harris, 55, as she digs through records in elections-office trash and confronts officials with a video camera Michael Moore-style. The film insinuates — but does not prove — voter fraud in several counties around the country.

Not that I wasn’t aware of the problems with electronic voting and with Diebold systems in particular, but I’ll be interested to see what the documentary covers. Definitely setting up the DVR to record this one.