The Only Winning Move Is Not To Play

Such were the words of Joshua the supercomputer in the 1984 movie War Games, specifically upon realizing that to fight a nuclear war is futile and should rather be avoided. The same logic applies to at least two activities in modern American life: voting and marriage. While they served a noble and worthwhile purpose at one point, what they have become renders my participation not only futile, but unthinkable. Otherwise stated, I will not legitimize these activities or degrade myself by participating in them.

As for voting, its purpose was to allow educated and informed citizens with a genuine stake in public policy to select representatives who would discharge their narrow protective functions (e.g., national defense, police, courts) and leave us in peace to pursue happiness. Today, voting allows uneducated and uninformed parasites to usurp government power and embark on violence and plunder to enrich themselves and build their utopia on the backs of the productive. This goes for both major parties and most of the minor ones. And as I've discussed at length, the modern federal government operates entirely beyond the boundaries set by the Constitution. To vote under these circumstances is to join in a criminal enterprise, which I will not do.

As for marriage, it truly is the bedrock of society because it harnesses our energy and funnels it toward productive ends and away from animalistic, Darwinian rivalry. By taking vows in front of witnesses to devote themselves to one another for life, a man and a woman set aside their feral instincts to achieve something far greater and far more lasting. Only grievous fault could justify severing this vital bond, such as abuse, adultery, abandonment, or habitual intoxication. Today, however, our instincts are given free rein to destroy this bond and break our vows at will, the most popular being the narcissistic incantation of "I'm not happy." Worse still, the person breaching this sacred contract can profit from it, winning custody, child support, alimony, and forcing the other party into debt peonage. This is a sick joke. I will not walk down the aisle to exchange vows that are meaningless and may be canceled on a whim. Now, I'm not so cynical as to believe that every woman on the planet (or even in the West) is craven enough to disregard her vows, but that's not the point. To participate in mocking a once-sacred institution with a pale travesty thereof is something I will not do, especially when it invites the government to pillage me more than it already does.

In both cases, voting and marriage, we have here a matter of principle. Could my vote make a difference in a hotly-contested election? Could my getting married work out? Perhaps, but only upon destroying myself, which makes them not worth it.