Democracy can be dangerous..37% decided Brexit on behalf of the majority

[Igel]

12. And if they don't, what do you do?

If they can't, what do you do? Lop off their heads, or merely their hands? Perhaps just a finger, or impose a $500 fine?

Person: "I'm sorry, I was sick."

Government of the people, for the people: "Do you have a doctor's note?"

Person: "Did I say I was sick. Sorry, my religion teaches that I shouldn't vote."

Government: "Well, that's one religious doctrine that government will ban."

Person: "I was traveling."

Government: "We'll stop that freedom of movement for elections."

Person: "No, on reconsideration I was working."

Government: "We'll make sure companies are required to use their assets to give you a day off. With pay."

Person: "Will that include my landscaper I have come over some Tuesdays when I text him?"

Government: "Yes. And because we don't have a record of your paying FICA and Medicare for them, we're going to subpoena your records and invade your privacy. Hand over your phone, we'll unencrypt it for you."


The more obligations you impose, the more you're intruding into privacy and interfering with the pursuit of happiness. The more confiscatory the government, and the more authoritarian. The more you need to control people, the less important the vote is.

The general principle is that a right to do something presupposes the right not to do that same something. My right to free speech does not entail a government-imposed obligation to speak. The right to not incriminate myself does not mean I am not allowed to incriminate myself. A right to free religion does not impose an obligation to worship. A right to vote does not entail a legal obligation to vote.

Now, morally I may have an obligation to speak up, it may be foolish to incriminate myself, I may feel obliged to participate in the religious organization whose doctrines I agree with and I may feel a moral obligation to vote. But the government already ordains enough morality that privacy is often something reserved for special people.