From: lefty@apple.com (Lefty):
In case anyone's been wondering, I vote a straight "None of the Above" ticket. Every election. I happen to believe that if you don't punch holes in your cards (we don't have those big, fun voting booths here in California like they do back East), you have no right to complain.
At the risk of prolonging an irrelevant thread, I feel I've got to point out the bum logic in this argument. If you go to Las Vegas, put a thousand bucks down on the blackjack table, and lose, you can't complain. You made a bet knowing the risks involved, and you lost. You would gladly have accepted the profits if you'd won. If a blackjack dealer comes over and takes a thousand dollars out of my pocket, he's just robbed me. If you vote, you're tacitly accepting that it's a fair game and agreeing to abide by the rules. If your candidate loses, that's the way the cookie crumbles. If you don't vote because you think the whole game is rigged and don't want any part of it, you're clean. You never wanted to play to begin with. Many people on this list are familiar with Lysander Spooner's article "No Treason," which explains that the Constitutional "contract" is not a binding contract at all, because you and I never signed anything. Same argument. I understand why some anarchists vote (though I think it's a big mistake), but there's no way I can be told that I've got no right to complain because I didn't agree to play. If you DO vote, don't complain. --Dave. -- Dave Mandl dmandl@panix.com