Does “anonymous”—Black Globe Ballots (BGB) stop voter extortion, intimidation and suppression? If so, then laws would be unnecessary; yet laws exist and both major parties claim these crimes have increased. Shouldn’t we ask how these even started?

Extortion, intimidation and suppression existed prior to voting, but intimidation and suppression (“necessary evil”) inherently exist within statism. The drive to win elections in order to the control these privileges is obviously the motivation for aggressions against voters. The bullseye on the ballot became larger as poll stations funneled in voters; this created greater opportunities to disrupt and corrupt, both made easier once in office.

But would these crimes be worse without BGB?

WAR IS PEACE

BGB neither redirected nor reduced these evils; it just redoubled efforts. Aside from the previous article’s discussion on exposure, propaganda from elites (state officials, the press, tech platforms and the rich) increases political polarization. This carefully-coordinated messaging should surprise none; fear-mongering, conflict, misleads and distraction are their bread and butter.

Further, to make elitists’ viewpoints the only ones voiced, peers are muted: the estrangement epidemic for wrongthink,[1][2][3][4] censorship (despite ineffectiveness)[5][6][7], algorithmic echo chambers, cancel culture and BGB. Statism’s zealots often support this type of political extortion against opponents—via intimidation (falsely labeled as “consequences”), doxxing and suppression (de-platforming)—because ballot boxes aren’t explicitly targeted.[8][9][10][11][12][13]

Examples from the Left…Examples from the Right…
Peaceful secession declares war.Illegal border-crossing equates to military invasion.
Silence is violence.Offensive gestures threaten cops.
Political memes are dog-whistles.Burning a flag is sedition.
Journalistic interviewing aids dictators.Whistleblowing unconstitutional acts is treason.


Each above example of Newspeak gives non-critical permission (subconsciously or not) to use actual coercion or force by framing the first action (or inaction) as such. Whether propagandizing, censorship, gaslighting or indoctrination, information warfare never ends. Combined with extortion, intimidation and suppression, this establishment-driven and systemic effort becomes brainwashing and thought control.


Just like voter anonymity didn’t start with BGB, voter intimidation doesn’t end at the ballot.


“YOUR” (BGB) VOTE ISN’T REALLY YOURS

When it comes to vote buying, it may be unethical, but shouldn’t be considered fraud. Voters already consensually support candidates who buy votes “wholesale”; that is, candidates offer policy promises for votes. If fraud is actually a concern, electoral fraud is less money and more effective: bribing vote counters, creators of machine counters or politicians. Even open ballots suffered from electoral fraud, but BGB actively obscures and hides all fraud, while hindering vote buying.

Additionally, there’s lobbying and a barely covert spoils system. And, if it’s a matter of sincerity, strategic voting is encouraged and commonplace. All of these can be debated against, but only arbitrarily exclude the rest, especially vote buying.

For this and other reasons, some qualified Americans don’t bother voting. Wouldn’t it be kinder to incentivize rather than penalize them (as with proposals for compulsory voting)?

Despite everything, “retail” vote buying remains illegal and taboo. The reason could be due to it being harder to regulate, when even poorer people can throw in their literal two cents. Just as likely, it exposes the voting nature of statism. Ultimately, all it’s because voters in this system don’t really own their votes to begin with and BGB isn’t intended for their benefit.

Thankfully, we’ve other options.

END-TEXT CITATIONS

  1. Ergenzinger, E. (2022) Estrangement: The Silent Epidemic. ↩︎
  2. McGregor, S. (2020) The beat goes on: Politics dividing families. ↩︎
  3. Coleman, J. (2021) What Estranged Families Can Teach Us About the Political Divide. ↩︎
  4. Waldroff, K. (2021) Healing the political divide. ↩︎
  5. Gillespie, N. (2021) Self-Cancellation, Deplatforming, and Censorship. ↩︎
  6. Williams, T. (2017) Report: Free Speech Is Best Remedy for Neutralizing Hate Groups. ↩︎
  7. Jansen, S. (2021) The Streisand Effect and Censorship Backfire. ↩︎
  8. McCann, S. (2022) Political Blackmail Empowers the American Left. ↩︎
  9. What is Doxing – Definition and Explanation. (n.d.). ↩︎
  10. Woods, T. (2015) Political Correctness and the Argument from Intimidation. ↩︎
  11. Strassel, K. (2016) The Intimidation Game: How the Left Is Silencing Free Speech. ↩︎
  12. Kinsella, S. (2007) Intellectual Property as a tool for political repression. ↩︎
  13. Duffield, W. (2021) A Brief History of ‘Deep Deplatforming’. ↩︎

The opinions shared here do not necessarily represent the official position of the Libertarian Party. These editorial articles have been submitted by Libertarians across the country, and featuring these topics does not represent an endorsement of the content therein.