Nothing Changes, a Voter Guide

Originally published on www.denverlibertarian.com

Editor’s note: this is a summary of a discussion about voting conducted over beers and tacos with one real-life, anonymous, libertarian and another not so libertarian (but willing to hear us out!) who both live in the Denver area. Perhaps this will become an ongoing series, or dare I say, a stammtisch.

It’s that time of year again! Time to put on your civic duty pants and get out there and vote! This ritual is the bedrock of our democracy, why everyone fought in wars and when you get to have your voice heard! Or, something like that. You also get a sticker, too. This summary is written knowing full well the limitations and implications of so-called participatory politics and voting; that is, when fifty-one percent of the people get to impose their will on the other forty-nine percent.

One primary principle that many understand but magically forget during election season is that you have a right to control your own life and make your own decisions, provided those decisions don’t violate the rights of other people. Or, to put it more simply: don’t hurt people and don’t take their stuff. When you vote you are reinforcing a system that actively takes people’s stuff, brazenly, out in the open, all under the guise of doing it for the “public good.” The act of voting only bolsters and reinforces the illegitimate power of the state to control everyday aspects of your life. Most implicitly realize the futility of this rigged voting process, wherein you vote your heart out for a candidate who has sold you a facade of feel good messages, but whose ultimate goal is power and control. Your favorite candidate just wants to get into office, do good things and force everyone else into their preferred mold. Of course, once sucked into the state apparatus, that very same I’m-different-from-all-the-rest candidate will fall in line with the others, eager to not buck the system and will become just another ward of the all-consuming state.

Despite this, many still participate in the voting process and actively encourage others to do the same. A great follow on Twitter is @DeanOFiles, of the Dean-O-Files Podcast. He recently summed up the uselessness sentiment pretty succinctly when he tweeted, "Nothing changes because the system is bought and paid for and everything government and media does is just a thin facade masking that fact." Indeed, the media is an essential weapon wielded by the state; keep the masses distracted, keep them angry at each other and always reinforce the alleged necessity of the state to keep the “other guys” in line. The talking heads on TV will implore you to get out there and vote, because this is the most important election of your lifetime! The non-stop political advertisements will hammer this home, too. Amid all this rhetoric, the state continually expands its power by using fear as motivation, ostensibly to right all the wrongs from the previous rulers. Ultimately, in this game, the state always wins, gobbling up power every step of the way regardless of who “wins” the election.

Many a great libertarian thinker has identified the myriad problems regarding the glorious, glimmering goodness that is our beloved voting process. Lysander Spooner correctly identified that the real target is the crime of making laws and of utmost importance was to avoid being part and parcel to the government machinery. Many initiatives and amendments provide tacit cover (the people voted for it!) for government to take private property, infringe on natural rights and redistribute the spoils of plunder as the ruling party sees fit. By definition, this will change every two to four years, ensuring an endless cycle of stolen and wasted capital. The continuation and promulgation of this voting cycle, as PJ O’Rourke noted, only encourages the bastards and we would do well to stop the madness. Many initiatives are also completely disconnected from any rational economic calculation and there is no feedback mechanism when you vote. Money is transferred from here to there, goes into a dark hole, everyone forgets about it and a government bureaucrat figures out the rest, right? If a project somehow happens to go over budget, well, that just happens sometimes, government tried its best! Don’t like it? Vote differently next time! Sigh.

Counter to the way it is traditionally taught, what happens on election day is the use of government to enforce your preferences on others, to remove moral agency from individuals and to foster a continued reliance on subsidized institutions and services writ large. This is the method by which government continually grows. It is merely political theater; a rigged game for power and control. One can see the apathy and reluctance to place faith in such a governing system by the staggering non-participation rates in recent elections. For a real life example of the futility of voting, see my commentary on Colorado Amendment X, later in the article. Perhaps the best way to evoke real change would be to build on the apathy that many already have regarding the voting process. As Frank Chodorov put it: to quit voting in sufficiently large numbers would be the most effective act possible for furthering real political change. Indeed, in this case, less would be more.

All that being said and leaving aside the absurd concept of voting for people to rule over you, there are initiatives and amendments on the ballot in Colorado this election season that warrant discussion. Will your vote even matter? Statistically speaking, probably not; it’s debatable. Some of the items up for vote in Colorado this go around involve some very basic principles regarding private property and keeping government out of private business, albeit within the framework of our moderately capitalist, government regulated free market, as Ryan McMaken put it in a recent podcast episode of Radio Rothbard. If nothing else, these topics can be used as a springboard to introduce libertarian concepts while in conversation with those who might otherwise keep plodding along the same statist avenue. Alas, as many deep into the voluntaryist, agorist, An-cap and anarchist worlds will tell you, the following will be some top notch minarchist rhetoric, to put it mildly. Take from it what you will, or just shut it down from here on out. Either way, here we go!

Amendment V – Lower Age Requirement for Members of the State Legislature
In Brief: Lowers the age requirement for serving in the state legislature from 25 to 21.
No. Rental car companies don’t trust you to drive their cars, you’re still on your parents’ insurance, you’ve never had a job and you think Bernie Sanders’ “free things for everyone,” is the future and you want me to pay for it. In the meantime, I’ll not vote for anyone to rule over me if I have the opportunity.

Amendment W – Election Ballot Format for Judicial Elections
In Brief: Eliminates repetition and cleans up the graphics on the Judges ballot area.
Yes. If nothing else, less ink and paper will be used, that’s it, move on. I’ve already wasted far too much time on this even typing up a response.

Amendment X – Industrial Hemp Definition
In Brief: Remove the definition of “industrial hemp” from the Colorado Constitution and redefine industrial hemp as having “the same meaning as it is defined in federal law or as the term is defined in Colorado statute.” Which one is it? Who knows!
No. On the surface, poorly worded legislative jargon is always a loophole for future infringements and litigation. Not to mention, even though voters passed Amendment 64 (marijuana legalization) in 2012, Colorado legislators have done nothing to rewrite state laws which still define hemp as illegal. The standard message is that your vote definitely matters: you vote and the legislators will take care of the rest, right? Here you see that concept in action (inaction?). Also, avoid centralization; the more local the better.

Amendment Y – Congressional Redistricting
In Brief: Creates an Independent Congressional Commission to redraw Colorado U.S. congressional district maps every ten years after a census as required by the U.S. Constitution.
No, or Yes, I don’t care. There is no such thing as an independent commission. You can get a glimpse into the bureaucratic nightmare that this commission would become by reading the election blue book: there are eleven single spaced pages with tiny font that describe the process for selecting this commission. A yes vote assures a bureaucratic nightmare; a no vote continues a bureaucratic nightmare.

Amendment Z – Legislative Redistricting
In Brief: Creates an Independent Legislative Redistricting Commission to redraw Colorado legislative district maps every ten years.
No, or Yes, I don’t care. There is no such thing as an independent commission. You can get a glimpse into the bureaucratic nightmare that this commission would become by reading the election blue book: there are eleven single spaced pages with tiny font that describe the process for selecting this commission. A yes vote assures a bureaucratic nightmare; a no vote continues a bureaucratic nightmare.

Amendment A – Prohibit Slavery and Involuntary Servitude in All Circumstances
In Brief: Remove from the Colorado Constitution language that allows slavery and involuntary servitude to be used as punishment for the conviction of a crime.
No, or Yes, I don’t care. This one is all about your feels and is purely symbolic. If you get locked away for possessing too much of a certain type of a plant, you are a slave to the state. Call it whatever you want. A yes vote only enables the PC crowd to continue and pursue more of this type of re-wording for proper right-speak in the future.

Amendment 73 – Funding for Public Schools
In Brief: Increase funding for pre-K-12 public schools by increasing income taxes on individuals, corporations, small business and farms. Also, increase property taxes.
No. This is a massive tax hike that increases taxes on households making more than $150,000, increases property taxes across the board (homes, farms, businesses etc.), increases business taxes all to prop up an antiquated school system. Get government out of schools, work to foster a market based, decentralized, approach to education.

Amendment 74 – Compensation for Reduction in Fair Market Value by Government Law or Regulation
In Brief: Requires compensation to a property owner from a state or local government if a law or regulation reduces the fair market value of their property.
Yes. This one feels good but will probably make no difference. It certainly doesn’t stop government from taking your property whenever it deems necessary, but it does potentially force government to seriously evaluate the economic implications of any given regulation and offer compensation if it does (that determination process seems like a bureaucratic nightmare in and of itself). On the other hand, every regulation could be seen as being a detriment to one’s business or property which could open the doors to legal battles. The ensuing legal battles and associated expenses will all come courtesy of the taxpayer. In the end, if this can slightly influence and slow down government taking potential profits from business being conducted on a property, I guess that’s a win. I fear this will turn into more regulation, more bureaucracy, more litigation and the next step, naturally, will be someone calling for more funds for a compensation review board...on and on, ad nauseum. This is all so terrible, government is so terrible.

Amendment 75 – Campaign Contributions
In Brief: Increase state campaign contribution limits to competing candidates when another candidate contributes more than $1 million to his or her own campaign.
No. Let individuals spend their money however they see fit. This will change nothing. Government and politics is loopholes and scheming. Campaigning is no different. The old rules allow for graft and dirty money, this will continue regardless of whether this passes or not. As the title of the article title: nothing changes.

Proposition 109 – Authorize Bonds for Highway Projects
In Brief: Require the state to borrow up to $3.5 billion to fund 66 specific highway projects via funding within existing state revenues and without raising taxes or fees.
Yes. Wait, what?! I’ll catch some flack for this, but the roads are shit here and have been neglected for years, with funds being diverted from road building and given to irrelevant pet projects. Your money has already been confiscated and this proposition, in theory, forces government to use the existing funds for actual roads and nothing else. Is the state needed for roads? No. Will it be mismanaged? Will it go over budget? Is there a better way to construct roads? Yes, yes, and yes. I’ll take the heat on this one, but just wait, see Prop 110 below.

Proposition 110 – Authorize Sales Tax and Bonds for Transportation Projects
In Brief: Increase the state sales and use tax rate from 2.9% to 3.52% and borrow $6 billion. Distribute 45% of the revenues to state government, 40% to local governments and 15% for multi-model transportation projects.
No. This is classic. Arbitrary blanket increase in taxes arbitrarily distributed across arbitrary pet projects completely disconnected from any economic calculation. No. Moving along.

Proposition 111 – Limitations on Payday loans
In Brief: Limit the total cost for a payday loan to 36% APR.
No. Why not 35%? Why not 1%? A payday loan is a private contract. All parties are well aware of what they are getting into. Ironic that many support an arbitrary cap on payday loans but rubber stamp every other tax measure regardless of the future cost impacts.

Proposition 112 – Increased Setback Requirement for Oil and Natural Gas Development
In Brief: Require that new oil and natural gas development be located at least 2,500 feet from occupied structures, water sources and areas designated as vulnerable.
No. Why not 2,600 feet? What is an occupied structure? What is a water source? What is the definition of vulnerable? Another classic, open-ended, vaguely worded and arbitrary intrusion onto private property.