Thursday, February 07, 2008

Individual rights sold by a Vote

The nation appears to be fascinated with politics for the past month since it is the primaries...
It is almost like watching a sports game as the country splits itself to cheer for their favorite politician. They chant, they boo, and they donate money. I thought this was interesting, but then I thought of why we vote for someone.

We vote for someone to go to Washington D.C. and vote for us. Well then am I not handing my rights off to that person to vote for how they see fit? Would I lend my house or car to someone and get it returned to me in four years after they had used it as they saw fit? Of course, if they total my car I may never give it back to them, but who lends their car or house to someone they hardly know? It would be called irrational.

Well, I am thinking that it would be irrational to lend my rights out to someone else who does not share the same beliefs as me. Therefore, politician, you must be a practicing Catholic with free market ideals. You must have a passion for liberty and a hatred towards policies that do anything besides allow free movement of goods. Yes, this includes immigrants (they are a good; its called labor). You must wish to decrease the power of government, privatize roads & schools, and demolish welfare. You must love watching Rambo & Rocky movies and can discuss the economic brilliance of the two.

Is there no candidate that fits my criteria?
For Shame And They
(the candidates) Expect Me To Pass Them My Rights

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very specific criteria...it seems that the only one that fits those criteria is you, although I am also a practicing Catholic. I'm not as Rocky/Rambo knowledgeable as you though.

Perhaps you should run for office, hmm? If you move to Alexandria, VA, there's a delegate who is pretty weak in his seat...

Ian Dunois said...

I am glad you caught that I am the only one who fits the criteria, just the same you are the only one who fits the criteria to take care of your rights and so on...
The argument is if in the natural world, we know that people take better care of their own private property than the shared property; than it would make sense in the metaphysical world with our rights.

Nicholas said...

Are we actually giving up our individual rights when we vote, though? I mean a good chunk of the population doesn't vote and politicians still go and write legislation that will affect them. The way I see it, our individual rights are already forfeit - and the only right we really have is to vote for someone who shares more of our beliefs than the other candidates.

Nicholas said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ian Dunois said...

haha good catch Nick. When you vote, you are saying by your action that you are willing to forfeit your rights to whomever is in charge.

I really am trying to make another argument towards voting that anyone can comprehend.

Want to read more about voting on why it is pointless to vote... check out Myth of the Rational Voter.
http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Rational-Voter-Democracies-Policies/dp/0691129428

and best of all; it was written by a professor at Mason.