Why I Don’t Vote

2012 was a watershed year for me. It was the last time that I stood in front of a voting machine and cast a ballot. It was also the first time in my life that I had voted FOR a presidential candidate instead of simply AGAINST his  ‘adversary.  Since then I have been completely free and unfettered from the political process, and view it as a tragic sort of entertainment best viewed from as far away as possible. Since  know so many people who are once again convinced that this is The Most Important Election ever I considered it my civic duty to explain just a bit as to why I will not be participating this time, or the next time, or the time after that.

1) I wrote a book.  This is not so much a shameless plug as an explanation of one rather large step on my journey. I wrote a book called Swindled where I documented how the GOP on local, state and national levels tweaked , bent and in some cases broke federal election law to in order to secure the nomination for Mitt Romney.  Considering how that worked out for them, it’s even more remarkable that they would go through so much trouble. The greatest candidate of my lifetime was  in that race, and with a complicit media (‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’), they literally cheated him out of his shot. Writing that book, I became finally convinced that the GOP  cares nothing about liberty; they care about power.

2) I helped a guy get elected.  I write this knowing that the individual I’m talking about will probably read this.  My family got heavily involved a few years back with getting a dear friend of ours get elected to a state-level office.  I was in his living room the night the campaign started. He was a man as committed to liberty and as opposed to the status quo as any of us. I remember disagreements with his campaign manager about how ‘extreme’ his views were. He was the underdog,  the libertarian who was going to take the system by storm, make everybody mad, and then come home after a single term. In fact, now that I think about it, this is the man who introduced me to Tom Woods book on Nullification.  Amazingly, we won. My friend replaced a useless , statist, GOP do-nothing who had all the money and we won.

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And then I watched my friend change.  He began to  refer to himself as a ‘conservative’.  He championed some dubious legislation and broke at least one of his campaign promises. He ran again, and was re-elected. And again.  Now he’s the insider who gets invited to the important fund-raising dinners with all his buddies at the Capitol.

We love him. We love his family. He’s still better than  what he replaced.  But we appear to have a whole lot less in common with him philosophically than we did before he got elected.

3)The system is evil.  Now think about this for a minute.  Cast your mind back to, oh, lets say the last 3 presidential elections, although one could certainly  go back further than that.  The GOP nominated John McCain, a self-proclaimed ‘maverick’ who believed  pretty much everything depending on what time of day you asked him. He literally prided himself on his unpredictability on voting. Sometimes he was  for freedom, sometimes he was for statism.  You couldn’t pin him down because he was a ‘maverick.’.

John McCain was touted to small-government types as ‘the lesser of two evils’ and even though he was obviously an unstable old man, we were supposed to vote for him because Barack Obama would be President if we didn’t. This was the Most Important Election Ever. Hold your nose and vote! It’s your duty! The world will end if Obama gets the White House!

Now consider 4 years later, when the GOP snubbed Ron Paul to nominate Mitt Romney, a man who believed nothing.  His views, at least on things that the President can actually affect, were identical to his opponents, but he would gladly change them if it would get him 10 more votes. He was horrible and dull,and nobody was excited about him. But  the America people were told that this was The Most Important Election ever and that 4 more years of Obama would destroy the Republic. Sure he’s a borderline statist, but he’s the lesser of two evils. Hold you nose and vote! It’s your duty! The world will end if Obama keeps the White house!

Now it’s 2016 and the GOP has nominated a man who wasn’t even a Republican a few years ago. He believes, apparently whatever pops into his head. He’s an unregenerate blowhard who openly admitted he’d like to have martial relations with his own daughter.  But hey, none of that matters because he’s the lesser of two evils! This is The Most Important Election ever! Hold your nose! Do your duty! The world will end if Hilary gets the White House!

How many times must you be sold the same stupid idea?  Every time the ‘lesser’ of the two evils is greater than the evil before it. It’s a game for suckers.

4)The system is worldly. Now I want to  conclude this by talking to ‘my crowd’, the Christians. The GOP uses us, and has for pretty much my entire life.  They meet with evangelical leaders like Falwell and Dobson, and these  leaders slobber all over these politicians for a seat at the table. This is done because the politicians believe theses leaders can deliver them blocks of people who will support them, and apparently that works for them. But I challenge you to think for yourselves. Think about Donald Trump ( just as an easy example), and then consider these verses.

The Bible says “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

The Bible says “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”

The Bible says “For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondageFor if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.”

The Bible says  “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”

Christian, you are never commanded in scripture to vote. You are commanded to  preach the gospel.  You aren’t commanded to ‘save America’, you are commanded to be part of the salvation of men’s souls.  God not only isn’t a Republican, He isn’t even an American.

In 2012 a friend of mine was positively abused on social media by people we both went to church with over his support of Ron Paul. He was called names and insulted by his brothers and sisters in Christ. His failure to  fall into line and back the empty suit of Romney caused division and  bad feelings.  This time around, another friend of mine has offered to ‘defriend’ anyone on Facebook who doesn’t support Trump. What sort of wicked system turns brothers and sisters against each other like that? And why do you keep participating, Christian?

It’s ok, really. Let them ruin the place, they are going to anyway. it’s theirs to ruin.  We seek a heavenly country wherein dwells righteousness.  Our citizenship is in heaven, and if the place falls apart, and it becomes (more) repressive, take heart; the church of Jesus Christ has lived and thrived under those conditions from the beginning. This literally isn’t our fight.

Don’t get distracted. Don’t believe their lies. Don’t waste your time voting.

Reprinted with permission from Michael S. Alford.

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