[at-l] RE: Follow Through On Global Warming (OT).

[malcolm at malcolmfuller.com (Malcolm Fuller)]

> You advise, "Some people take the ethical consequences 
> of voting too seriously to engage in the practice.  They
> abstain because they don't *want* to associate themselves
> with the whole rotten business."

> Your observation -- some people don't want to vote because
> of the ethical consequences -- seems logical only if the 
> result is improved, directly, by virtue of their abstention.
> I don't see how this works, however, since even if one vote
> is cast there will be an election outcome.

You don't place any value on fidelity to your principles?

> Your observation seems to indicate some people are prone to 
> superficial thinking.  O.K., now I see your point, it really
> is better if people who can only think superficially don't 
> cast their vote.  Score a point for your observation.

Gosh, so quick to insult.

> You ask, "Who has greater just cause to complain: the person 
> who withholds his consent to be governed by refusing to vote,
> or the person who, entirely of his own free will, participates
> in the process by which politicians are selected?  After all,
> it is the vote that grants legitimacy to the official's 
> position of power."

> The official's position of power is a constitutional matter.
> The official's selection results from the vote. No one is
> withholding his consent to be governed.  

By that logic, Jews in Nazi Germany gave their consent to be
ruled by Hitler.

Before you write of constitutional authority, you should 
consider what it is that empowers constitutional government 
in the first place.

Free clue: http://www.law.indiana.edu/uslawdocs/declaration.html

> Your non-voter sounds so brave.  I haven't seen anyone stand 
> before an unruly crowd, shake his fist at the tyrant, and 
> shout his refusal to grant legitimacy to that official.  

I didn't accuse you of cowardice, nor have I ascribed any
bravery to principled non-voters. 

> I suspect non-voters merely abdicate their responsibility --
> not choosing by whom they are governed.

Abstention is still a choice in the matter, regardless of
how it "seems" or "sounds" to you, or whether you "suspect"
it of not being so.

> I often quote one of my favorite bumper stickers -- "Don't
> vote.  It only encourages them." -- but I'm just poking 
> fun at professional politicians.  I know they're swine, but
> they're our swine.

If you lie down with dogs, what makes you think that you'll
have a right to complain when you wake up with fleas?

MF