Essays Against the Ballot, Democracy, and Politics

 

Alliance of the Libertarian Left

• No Matter Who You Vote For, The Winner Is Always The Government

Alston, Wilton D.

• How Can Anyone Think Voting Matters? (2008)

Akai, Laure

• No Political Solutions (September 25)

Anarchist Federation

• Angry not apathetic: what anarchists do instead of voting (2015)

Anarcho

• Don’t Vote, Organize! (2001)

Ballou, Adin

• The Superiority of Moral Power Over Political Power (1845)
• Non-Resistance in Relation to Human Governments (1839)

Bandow, Doug

• Not Voting Is a Powerful Form of Dissent (2016)

Boudreaux, Donald J.

•  I Won’t Vote (2008)

Bowman, Joel

• Do Something Meaningful This Election Day (2016)

Brennan, Jason

• Vote, or else? Why moral obligations shouldn’t be enforced (2015)
• Against Democracy (2016)

Broze, Derrick

• Here’s Why I Don’t Vote… (2016)

Caplan, Bryan

• The Myth of the Rational Voter (2006)
• Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies (2007)

Carson, Kevin

• A “Political” Program for Anarchists (2002)
• To Vote, or Not to Vote? (2012)
• The Joke of Democratic Accountability (2012)

Castro, Frank

• Don’t Count On Elections: Organize Or Die (2016)

Chartier, Gary

• Just Say “No” (2012)

Chisari, Michael

• The Truth About Electoral Politics (2014)

Chodorov, Frank

• If We Quit Voting (1945)
• On Underwriting an Evil (1962)

Conger, Wally

• The Anti-Electorate Manifesto

CrimethInc.

• Series: The Anarchist Critique of Democracy (2016)

Cunningham, Ray

• If voting changed anything…it would be illegal (1997)

Davidson, Jared

• Direct democracy: An anarchist alternative to voting (2011)

De Cleyre, Voltairine

• Direct Action (1912)

Diedrich, Joseph S.

• Voting Does Not Advance Liberty (2014)

Donnelly, George

• Non-Voting is Principled Political Self-Defense (2009)

Doyle, Kevin

• Parliament or Democracy? (2001)

Flood, Andrew

• If voting could change anything… it would be illegal (1991)

Gillis, William

• Mussolini or Nixon? Don’t Bother Voting. Prepare to Resist (2016)

Goldman, Emma

• The Tragedy of Woman’s Emancipation (1911)
• The Woman Suffrage Chameleon (1917)

Gordon, Uri

• Democracy: The Patriotic Temptation (2016)

Gornoski, David

• Reject the Violence of Voting (2016)

Guerrero, Alexnder

• Against Elections: The Lottocratic Alternative (2014)

Hammer, Richard O.

• Is it Wise to Vote? (1999)

Hasnas, John

• Of Voting and T-shirts (2016)

Howe, Jared

• Against Voting (2016)

Johnson, Charles W.

• Don’t Vote (2010)
• In which I accept a challenge (2015)

Keating, Kevin

• Electoral politics “is a shell game;’ don’t vote (1999)

Keen, Mothuzad

• Stop Voting, Start Acting (2010)

Klassen, Robert

• Don’t Vote! (2002)

Knight III, Alex R.

• Your Obligation Not to Vote (2009)

Koman, Victor

• Death to the Party! (1980s)

Konkin III, Samuel Edward

• Our Enemy, The Party (1980)
• Action! Our Tactics (1980)

Koontz, Alan P.

• Living Slavery And All That (1985)

Lefevre, Robert

• Abstain From Beans
• The Illegality, Immorality and Violence of All Political Action (1974)

Mangu-Ward, Katherine

• Your Vote Doesn’t Count (2012)

McArdle, Megan

• Five Good Reasons Not to Vote (2014)

McCarron, Des

• Review: Anarchists, elections and democracy (1998)

McCarthy, Colman

• Vote for peace by staying at home (2000)

McElroy, Wendy

• Neither Bullets nor Ballots: introduction (1983)
• Why I Would Not Vote Against Hitler (1997)
• Anarchists Who Vote Are Like Atheists Who Pray (2012)

McGath, Gary (2002)

• Why I Am Not Voting 

Munger, Michael

• Democracy is a Means, Not an End (2005)

Nock, Albert Jay

• What the American Votes For (1876)

Notung

• An Argument Against Voting (2013)

Peacott, Joe

• Voting Anarchists: An Oxymoron or What? (1992)

Price, Wayne

• None of the Above: The Anarchist Case Against Electoralism (2004)

Progressive Labor Party

• Only Revolution, Not Voting, Can End Capitalism’s Racism, War, and Unemployment (2011)
• The Real Choice: Vote or Revolt (2012)
• U.S. Elections Growing Fascism & War (2016)

Powell, Aaron Ross

• Voting as a Moral Wrong (2014)
• Politics is Destroying Your Soul (2015)

Pugsley, John

• Arguments Against Political Action (1995)
• We Have To Do Something! (1995)

Reclus, Elisée

• Why Anarchists Don’t Vote (1885)
• On Voting (1885)

Richman, Sheldon

• The Cruel Joke of Sacralizing Voting (2014)
• Neither Democracy nor Elitism (2016)

Rozeff, Michael S.

• Why I Don’t Vote (2008)

Ryan, Alex

• Please Don’t Vote (2008)

Sabate Anarchist Collective

• Never Mind the Ballots! (2000)

Sherrer, Hans

• Non-Voting as an Act of Secession (2002)

Singh, Jaggi

• Anti-election activities in Montreal and Quebec City (2000)

Smith, George H.

• Party Dialogue (1980)
• Ethics of Voting (1982)

Sobran, Joe

• How To Vote For Liberty (2004)

Somin, Ilya

• When Ignorance Isn’t Bliss (2004)
• Democracy and Political Ignorance (2013)

Spencer, Herbert

• The Non-Voter’s Right to Ignore the State (1850)
• Reply to the Argument “If You Don’t Vote, You Can’t Complain” (1851)

Spooner, Lysander

• Against Woman Suffrage (1877)

Studebaker, Benjamin

• The Case Against Voting (2014)

Tandy, Francis

• Political Methods vs. Nonviolent Resistance (1896)

Thomson, David Ker

• Stop Voting (2008)

Tippens, Will

• Think Outside the Ballot Box (2016)

Tremblay, François

• Why Don’t You Go Into Politics? (2009)

Tucker, Benjamin R.

• The Futility of the Ballot (1928)

Tucker, Jeffrey

• Politics in One Page: Elections Are Great Illusions (2015)

Vee, Kelly

• Emma Goldman: Woman Suffrage and Feminist Idols (Revisited) (2016)

Vasquez, Christian

• Don’t vote; Organize (2016)

The Voluntaryist

• Non-Voting Series (2015)

Ward, Colin Ward

• The Case Against Voting (1987)

Watner, Carl

• Cultivate Your Own Garden: No Truck with Politics (1989)
• The Lesser of Two Evils is Still Evil (1997)
• Why I Refuse to Register (To Vote or Pay Taxes) (1999)
• Is Voting and Act of Violence? (2000)
• Dissenting Electorate: introduction (2001)
• Non-Voting (2009)

Zin, Howard

• Election Madness (2008)

Ziyad, Hari

• Not voting is not a ‘privilege’ (2016)