Vote With Your Wallet

This next year in America will surely be entertaining as elections are heating up. “Free” citizens will be encouraged to cast votes in line with how they believe society should be. This annoys me as most of the things people are allowed to vote on are things that take money out of my pocket and force it to be spent on things I may not want or need.

I’ve never understood how some kinds of people can be so adamant about spending other people’s money. You may not realize it but examples of this are all around you. When money is taken from us by means of taxation it is then given to other groups or projects. While there is no general consensus for what justifies taking this money, it’s hard to think things like public parks, fairs, festivals, rib burn offs, etc., are anywhere near the top of the list, yet municipalities everywhere spend our money on these items regardless if we agree with them.

If I wanted to attend a park, fair, festival or rib burn off, I would budget for it and I would pay to go. Or if I felt the need I would donate my time or resources to help put the event on. In this way, I can cast as many votes as I would like by spending my own money. I do not need to steal the money from other people via taxation in order to achieve my goal. I’m directly using my dollars to show how and where I want them to go. Yet this is exactly the opposite of what happens in America as money is taken from “free citizens” against our will and then egregiously spent (falsely) in the name of the greater good.

To put it a better way: there are men, women and children who will go to sleep hungry and homeless tonight in my city and yours, yet our cities have money to spend on fairs, parks, festivals, art shows, etc. Should not every single “free” human being first be given food, clothing & shelter if we are going to live in a society where money is forcefully stolen from us and given to others? What do you imagine homeless people are thinking when they don’t know where their next meal will come from but the city they reside in is subsidizing for-profit bike sharing companies?

As I mentioned in this à la cart society post, it is not fair to make me pay for things that I do not use. You should not be okay for paying for things that you do not use nor should you want to take my money to pay for things that you want. Do not vote on my behalf and do not try to steal my money and vote with it. Cast as many votes as you would like by spending your own dollars.