Libertarians shouldn’t favor democracy.  Democracy is not the same thing as liberty.  In some cases, they can be the opposite.  Democracy can lead to a lack of liberty.  It is two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner.  Or pick your favorite example.

Still, libertarians can have different views on democratic processes and the role they should play in government, if we are to have a government.

I, personally, have become less opposed to democratic processes in recent years because the ruling elite is so bad.  I would prefer democracy over the evil that is pushed upon us on a regular basis. The problem is that the ruling elite don’t actually follow democracy.  To them, democracy only counts if the people vote the right way, according to them.

We hear a lot about democracy these days.  Supposedly, democracy is on the ballot in 2024.  Supposedly, Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy.  Therefore, we need to remove him from the presidential race so that people can’t choose to vote for him.

You have to kill democracy in order to save it.  It’s like the establishment’s view on war.  You have to bomb Iraq in order to liberate the people there.

Removing Names from Ballots

So far, two states have declared that Trump won’t appear on the election ballots this year.  Those are Colorado and Maine.  These cases are likely to get heard by the Supreme Court.

It’s interesting that the Supreme Court has been more of a protector of liberty lately than a usurper of it.  There are many bad rulings coming from the Supreme Court, but when you compare it to the Biden administration (or whoever is running the show), then the Supreme Court looks pretty good.  It saved us from some of the most egregious vaccine mandates, and it saved us from the worst of the student loan bailouts.  Some of the reasoning isn’t great, but at least it is keeping dictator Biden somewhat in check.

There are other states talking about removing Biden from the ballot in retaliation.  Of course, Biden is a criminal in many ways, but I don’t necessarily favor this course of action.

But then I thought about what would happen if most of the states removed either Biden or Trump from the ballots in the general election.  The primaries don’t seem to matter much right now because Trump has a huge lead for the Republican nomination, and the Democratic establishment of the “Democratic” Party will just pick the nominee on their side.

Let’s say that half the states just removed one candidate or the other.  This might actually be good for liberty.

At some point, it becomes so ridiculous, both sides will just say that they won’t follow the orders of the other side.  If Trump isn’t allowed on the ballot, then Biden (or whoever) isn’t the legitimate president to the red states. (I am generalizing here, and I understand there are more than two “sides”.)

This is how we get nullification, and ultimately secession.  If Trump just isn’t allowed to win because he is in jail or off the ballots, then the people in the red states will just declare that Biden isn’t a legitimate president.  They will just stop following his dictates.  They will demand that their governors not follow the dictates.  It ultimately has to lead to secession.

The only other alternative is that it leads to violence.  And to be sure, the violence would come from the federal government and the establishment powers.  They would use violence to enforce their edicts, and they would use violence to prevent secession (peaceful independence).  But even here, they are limited by public opinion.

This isn’t 1860s America any more.  I don’t think we are going to have a literal war like the misnamed Civil War.  I think there are a lot of military members who would refuse to kill their fellow citizens.

Conclusion

I know that 2024 is going to be a crazy year politically.  It will probably be a crazy year economically as well.  It is already crazy with a tyrant in the White House trying to throw his political opponent in jail.  The powers-that-be are united against Trump.  They will remove him from ballots if possible.  They will do anything they can get away with to keep him from the presidency again.  Imagine what they would do to an actual libertarian.

The good news is that there are far fewer people who trust the establishment and its media than there were just 5 years ago.  We need as many people in the liberty camp as possible.

The only peaceful and logical solution to the craziness is for secession or some kind of functional secession where the federal government has a lot less say.  If removing names off of ballots leads to this more peaceful outcome, then I am open to it.