It's the same message every election year: "Get out and vote--It's your civic duty." Those who audit the sound bites of the candidates, read headlines about the debates and finally pull the lever at their local precinct are touted as moral, upstanding citizens; those who find among the candidates no agreeable representative, no platform worthy of espousal, and who then refuse to turn out on election day, on the other hand, are labeled apathetic and the legitimacy of their opposition is denied. This book is an anthology of articles and excerpts from a variety of sources that deal with the topic of nonvoting. In presenting the minority view that important moral and political reasons abound for not voting, the book unfolds four general arguments: voting is implicitly a coercive act because it lends support to a compulsory state; voting reinforces the legitimacy of the state; and existing nonpolitical, voluntarist alternatives better serve society. Many people do not agree with the concept of nonvoting--but the serious and well thought through underpinnings of such a belief are of crucial importance to an understanding of modern American politics.

Throughout history, governments have sought more efficient ways to count, tax, allocate, monitor and order the activities of their citizens. Watner and McElroy have compiled a collection of essays that present the historical, religious, moral and practical arguments against government identification. The articles look at several government naming practices and the census and discuss how the collection of seemingly innocent data could be used to commit abuses. Section one recounts the history of what we now call national ID. Section two covers contemporary technologies, such as microchips, email tracking and camera-based surveillance systems, applying to each the test, ""How would this catch terrorists or other criminals without destroying the rights of peaceable people?"" Section three imagines a future of rebellion against a government tracking its citizens in the name of security, but offers some hope that American culture does not lend itself to the fanatical control that a high-tech national ID system could make possible.

HOMESCHOOLING A HOPE FOR AMERICA is a collection of articles taken from The Voluntaryist, a newsletter with a libertarian outlook which has been published since 1982. This anthology argues against government education in a unique way. One who advocates voluntaryism opposes government schools, not because he opposes schooling but, because he opposes coercion, which is to be found in government taxation, compulsory attendance laws, and in the monopolization of public services. Most of us would agree that there should not be any state religion; that religion should not be supported by taxation; and that people should not be compelled to attend religious services. Why shouldn't the principles of voluntaryism in religion apply to education? All government depends on the cooperation and/or tacit consent of the majority of its citizens. When the state could no longer use government churches to legitimize its rule of the divine right of kings, some other institution had to be found that would induce consent among the masses. Government schools became the chosen instrument to produce good citizens for the state. Indoctrinate the young: then they will support the state for the rest of their lives. America is at a cross roads of cultural and economic disintegration, yet voluntaryists believe that there is hope. It is to be found in home schooling. Rather than cursing the darkness, parents can light one small candle of wisdom and learning and pass it along to the next generation. "Ages of experience testify that the only way society can be improved is by the individualist method; ... that is, the method of each one doing his best to improve one." This is the quiet or patient way of changing society because it concentrates upon bettering the character of men and women as individuals. As the individual units change, the improvement in society will take care of itself. In other words, if one takes care of the means, the end will take care of itself.

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Voluntaryists are advocates of non-political strategies to achieve a free society. We reject electoral politics, in theory and in practice, as incompatible with libertarian principles. Governments must cloak their actions in an aura of moral legitimacy in order to sustain their power, and political methods invariably strengthen that legitimacy. Voluntaryists seek instead to delegitimize the State through education, and we advocate withdrawal of the cooperation and tacit consent on which State power ultimately depends. This volume is a collection of essays from The Voluntaryist newsletter between the years 1982-1999.