In this episode Aaron asks Steve to tell the reason why he decided not to vote in the last local elections here in Fairbanks. The discussion revolves around participation in the State and then someone calls to ask why the Bennett brothers haven't "renounced" their citizenship.
I'm only 15 minutes in, but voting isn't valid self-defense any more than spraying bullets into a crowd because SOMEONE in the crowd shot at you. Any innocent third party you hit or is threatened by your shooting can now return fire at you because you're aggressing against them. Voting is an aggression against your neighbors.
ReplyDeleteJim in Kenai
As Josh pointed out to me, voting against local spending or bonds would be self-defense. There are the other problems discussed on the show, though. You can't vote for a politician and it be self-defense since you have no way of holding the politician to his promises.
ReplyDeleteJim in Kenai
The problem with voting down local spending initiatives is that now most municipalities have ways around voters turning them down. So it still comes back to legitimacy of the government, even as they're plainly doing things the people they rule don't like.
ReplyDeleteJim in Kenai
The people they rule. That nails it. When we vote these suckers into office, they claim the right to RULE us. Not just to manage the affairs of this problem or that, but to RULE.
ReplyDeleteAnd why not, our voting gives them the legitimacy they want and need to make that claim.
Under the heading of revolution within the form (Garet Garrett, The Revolution Was), is it still a jury when the jurors have to swear ahead of time to be guided only by the judge's explanation of the law? This is like saying you can have the right to a firearm -- which has its barrel welded closed. If the jury is prevented from fulfilling the purpose of a jury then it isn't a jury, it is only a pacifier for the people.
ReplyDeleteOh, and naturally, the reason is because the jury might fail to convict someone of a real crime on nullification grounds, not find a crime against the state to be invalid.
Jim in Kenai
The Judge was likely the only person in Aaron's incarceration who knew that it was a travesty of justice. Everyone else most likely just assumed that the system was fundamentally moral because everybody know it is so. Everyone knows that. Didn't you go to school? Didn't you listen to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck?
ReplyDeleteJim in Kenai