I left the following comment on Adam Kokesh's recent post about voting, and why we should, in his own words, "help me finally free America from the federal government."
I thought it deserved a wider audience. What is your opinion, Voluntaryists? Am I making sense? Am I missing something?
Let me know in the comments.
Begin comment:
@adamkokesh: The idea that voluntaryists need to vote for a leader on a national level to change things is just oxy-moronic. The system is inextricably and intrinsically founded upon and dependent upon violence for its very existence. The idea that this system will "let you in" to destroy it and make it suddenly "nonviolent" defies any sort of sound logical thought process there is.
I just posted about this, in fact, but am not commenting here to link bomb or plug said post. I am only commenting here in the hopes that the principled, budding anarchists who are already changing and decentralizing things don't get caught up in this election hype sensationalism suffering a diversion of resources and time for a pipe dream.
Even if you should, by some miracle, become president, the plans I have heard you describe for "dissolving the Federal government" are all top-down, centralized plans, to be headed by yourself and a group of selected "custodians" who will manage who gets what, and how everything is to be broken down. This is not a voluntaryist approach at all, as it necessitates making vast claims over property miles and miles away, and does not permit those land owners, communities, and individuals with most direct demonstrable link to the properties, land, and resources to decide what to do with them. This is, essentially, an application of force via magical mandate.
Voluntaryism does not need a leader in the sense of a statist figurehead such as a "president" or even a "notpresident." Nor does the violence-based system of "Democracy" need to be legitimized.
Folks here on Steemit are already changing things. And it is happening in a direct, principled, and non-violent manner. You should look around a bit and see what I mean. Tons of stuff going on here, that is real, grassroots change, and not some big "campaign."
I can't believe it needs to be said that anarchists don't need a president.
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as DTube and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)