A Voice and a Choice are Better than a Vote

The problem with democracy is not that citizens get to vote -- it's that they don't get a veto on every other citizen's vote. In the marketplace, we cannot force others to like what we like or choose what we choose, but we each have the right not to accept another's choice for us. Yes, you can have chocolate ice cream, and you can have vanilla, but I am going to have strawberry ice cream, because that's what I want. Yes, you can have a dog, and you can have a cat, but I want a chimpanzee, so that's what I'm going to have. And pay for it myself.

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The problem with democracy is that they want to choose for you. And that is why ultimately there is nothing to rejoice in at having been granted the vote, if we cannot say no. The right to say no to anything anyone else wants to decide for us is called Anarchy. Anarchy does not mean chaos. It does not even mean that there is no government. All it means is that each person gets to choose to join -- or to opt out.

In Theodosia and the Pirates, there is a small scene between Jean Laffite and Theodosia Burr that spells out exactly how much better than having the vote it is to actually have a voice -- and a choice -- in one's government. Not all of us want to be governor. Most are glad for someone else better qualified to be allowed to govern -- but each of us wants to be able to opt out, if the choice of governor is not to our liking.

An Excerpt from Theodosia and the Pirates