Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Mexican lawmakers present medical marijuana bill

If Mexican lawmakers proceed with medical usage for marijuana or even legalization before the US gets it's act together, they could effectively end the violent monopoly that the narco-cartels have enjoyed for decades. Prohibition creates large profit potential for those willing to accept the risks, and violence is the only way to defend an illicit industry that works outside of the legal system. Legal industries have much lower violence rates than illegal ones, such as the illegal drug trade. Prohibition fails to alleviate any of the perceiced social ills of drug use, while creating a variety of additional unintended consequences.

More:
http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/Reuters/worldNews/~3/jrSR47E9FrI/story01.htm

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Don't Get Out the Vote, It Makes You Look Ignorant

Stop voting, it doesn't show you can think rationally, but only through groupthink. Sheldon Richman says it shows a lack of individual responsibility:

"A mass democratic system encourages voter irresponsibility, says Sheldon Richman. Because the consequence of any single vote is negligible, individuals have an incentive to vote on some basis other than an understanding of current issues — which would require, among other things, the costly acquisition of a grasp of basic economics. Voters, then, are free to vote their biases. This voter mentality is known as rational ignorance."

More:
http://reason.com/blog/2014/02/16/sheldon-richman-says-dont-get-out-the-vo

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Voting is a Lousy Excuse to Inflict your Will over Others

Reason from, well, Reason:

"It matters not at all what any individual voter does. The odds are that no election in your lifetime would have been different had you done something other than what you did that day — including staying home. One vote is like one drop in the ocean: inconsequential."

The act of voting and the system it enables is simply one of mob rule. Whether that is what democracy is, or has devolved into, is aside the point. It is the system in place today. Seeking to inflict one's will over others through government is an immoral attempt to remove oneself from acting through aggression over others, but the act is nonetheless the same. If you would not force others directly, why rely on government for the same effort?

"Some will say in response, But what if everyone thinks like that? This misses the point. No one is waiting to see what you do on election day. The rest of the country will do whatever it’s going to do — no matter what you do. (But if everyone did stay home on election day, think of the message that would send!) You control only yourself, and you undertake actions only when you believe they have a good chance of effecting consequences that matter. Otherwise you don’t act."

http://reason.com/archives/2014/02/09/the-cruel-joke-of-sacralizing-voting

Like they say, if voting changed anything, it would be illegal. I am more encouraged by low voter turnout, a sign that the population is starting to see the futility of electoral politics and government in general.

Keep voting. I'll keep laughing.