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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 16, 2024

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On whether voting is a duty, I would first ask: does a sovereign have a duty to his nation? It seems yes, he has a duty to rule well.

I would ask second: who is sovereign in the United State of America? The answer to this is well known: the people are. "We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

So then, as one of the United States of America's many sovereigns, do I have a duty to rule well? Yes; and in this country the sovereigns rule by voting.

Therefore, voting is a duty.

does a sovereign have a duty to his nation?

I'd say the way that some of our modern elites behave — particularly those in the UK — at least some of them believe the answer is "no." That they can freely "dissolve the people and elect another," to quote Bertold Brecht.

The answer to this is well known: the people are.

It's the well-known "official" textbook answer, but I'd say it's wrong. The Iron Law of Oligarchy is absolute. "The people" are not sovereign, have never been sovereign, and will never be sovereign. The United States, and modern democracy as a whole, are built upon falsehoods.