Voting, the last bastion of mind control that civilization keeps on many of us anti-civilizationists. I mean, why not vote? All you have to do involves scribbling in a few bubbles and dropping the paper in a box. Voting can’t hurt, right? …Wrong!

We all know, even those who continue to vote, that voting does not change anything. It merely absorbs your energy and keeps you psychologically invested in the outcome of a broken system that your vote cannot fix. Voting works as another form of denial. Denial that we can have a quick fix. Denial that if we just change people, not the system itself, things will work out. Even though we all know things won’t change much.

Now, you may say, “If it doesn’t really matter, than who cares if I vote or not?”

Like telling Canadians to vote in the American election, rewilding involves creation of a new system. We don’t want to change the leaders of our culture, we want to create a new culture altogether. By voting, you only prove that you still have a psychological investment in denial. The idea that it doesn’t matter, doesn’t mean so do it anyway. It takes time to think about who to vote for, what laws to vote for, and than the disappointment and heartache when you feel the smack of reality the day of election and even though the dipshit you voted for wins the popular vote, some other asshole steals the election anyway. WTF? Voting takes a lot more energy and investment than filling out a sheet of paper and dropping it in a slot. And that investment of your energy goes right to the evil-doers of civilization, “Haha! We got them to vote another time!”

Or I’ll stop voting when I have a feral culture to join. This argument for voting makes more sense to me. And yet, to that I would respond, only one way exists to create a feral culture and that involves walking away from civilization. We can have a foot in both worlds, sure, but voting doesn’t show your active involvement in lessening damage (voting for the lesser of two evils) it merely shows you still want to remain in denial. Walk away. Walk away. Walk away. Let it go.

Of course, we also hear that real change doesn’t happen with voting in politics but when we “vote with our dollars.” …fuck that. “voting with dollars” means the same thing as voting; investing, whether physically with money or psychologically with a ballot. Buying “green” lightbulbs will not save the planet, and the more time we spend believing that technology will save us rather than learning to abandon those technologies, we will continue to destroy the planet.

Now, you could say that one leader will do “less damage” than another, but it has more to do with the exchange of energy. When you vote, you feed the system. Deciding who to vote for, reading on issues, etc. takes time away from rewilding, and programs your brain to actually care about the outcome. When George Bush wins the election (or more accurately steals it) you will find yourself caring a lot… And for what? You think Al Gore would have done less damage to the environment? Ha!
Now I like the idea of saying, “Vote with bullets not ballots.” Because it brings more attention to how real change could come about; by eliminating the states monopoly on violence and allowing people, local communities to choose how to behave. Though, I still think the slogan, “Vote with bullets not ballots” implies revolution of hierarchy, not the dismantling of civilization. Because hey, if you still think in terms of voting, you still think in terms of “changing the system.” Whether you vote with ballots or bullets, the system remains the same.

Now I could say, “Vote with your feet and walk away,” but using the term vote we still remain under the terms of the abuser by using their language. I think saying, “Don’t vote, walk away,” works better because it voting for anything, even abandonment, still implies voting. Voting, meaning partaking in a system of civilization. Voting with your feet and walking away feels more like a hunger strike. “I’ll walk away until you decide to change your ways!” It makes no sense. Don’t vote at all.

Now comes the part where I tell you that I actually do vote, and no, not just in Dancing With The Stars and MySpace polls, but yes, I admit that despite everything I just said, I vote in politics too. Well… sort of. I vote for local issues that will protect areas and all that crap. I vote for the lesser of two evils because I know that a third party will not change the system anymore than my lesser evil, but at least we can do lesser evil, while in the meantime we continue to dismantle civilization and rewild.

I guess it comes down to knowing that caring about voting works as denial, and thinking that civilization will change works as a form of denial. As long as you know that voting may (and may not) merely protect the environment for a bit longer and that we need to spend more time dismantling civilization than volunteering for a political campaigns (NADER in 2000!), it does not work as a form of denial but of understanding civilization forced occupation and the governments monopoly on violence.

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