The anti-war crowd likes to ask: What if they started a war and no one showed up? So, perhaps statists should be asking: What if they held a (s)election and no one voted? Join James today for an exploration of ballot spoiling, from Mexican presentations to Irish presidential (s)elections to Nobel prize-winning literature.
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SHOW NOTES
Episode 302 – How To Free Your Tax Cattle
“Seismic”: Spoiled votes in Áras election overwhelming
Why I spoiled my vote: ‘I feel invisible to the Irish political classes’
As ballots are counted, misleading claims that the election was ‘rigged’ spread online
Seeing by José Saramago
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
“…And Then There Were None” by Eric Frank Russell
The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude by Étienne de La Boétie
Spoiled votes can be unspoiled by those who count the votes cast.
This is why the public should demand an open ballot.
Some countries have mandatory voting, so spoiling is the next best thing, ideally people would wear a paperclip or something on their way to the booth so you’d recognize likeminded spoilers. Spoiled votes get counted apart from blank and uncast votes so you can have a pretty good idea of the percentage of spoilers. Once a critical percentage is reached, those spoilers then should refrain from filing taxes, all at once, the same day and it’s game over
@Hughsername
Mandatory voting, fascinating.. What is the penalty for refusing? In any case, I would argue that in that situation, perhaps refusing to comply is also a good option (it sets an example for your fellow oppressed neighbors and peers) but okay I like the opportunity to connect with like minds spin.
I do think that datahoarder makes a solid point in the comment above though.
The part about the “spoilers” simultaneously refusing to pay taxes, is something I am down with 100%, though ideally I would advocate organizing that outside of, and separate from meeting each other in state surveilled buildings where one connects with their fellow tax boycotting kin via paperclip identification.
When I was researching for / writing my article on the Canadian government’s war profiteering (for November 11th’s annual War Racket gaslighting festival) I came across this group in Canada.
https://www.consciencecanada.ca/the-reason-for-our-existence/
Their website says:
“As conscientious objectors, it is not enough to avoid personal military service because we know that funds taken from us in the form of tax will be used for war and other violent purposes. In other words, we know that we will be made complicit in war through our taxes no matter what our beliefs and values might be.”
Hey G, where i live the penalty for refusing is a fine of 200 dollars plusminus. I don’t think refusing it and risking the fine sends a stronger message, as this is portrayed as laziness by the establishment:”those lazy people don’t even care to vote and are not interested in the country or their future”. However a spoiled vote has a stronger message, saying i’m coming to the booth to tell everyone i’m not playing your game.
@Hughsername
Thanks for the response.
I was not suggesting refusing to vote was sending a message to “the establishment” (I could care less what those criminals and brainwashed yes men/women think of me) the point would be to set an example for other everyday people that do not buy into the government’s scams but are feeling alone in their want to rebel and refuse to comply.
My vote is and will always be expressed via my refusal to comply with these glorified mafia institutions.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Interesting to see the use of a Scottish ballot paper towards the end of your video.
The SNP won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats in the 2015 General Election, immediately went Woke, and have not used their electoral superiority to advance their manifestos one inch since.
” Did you know that they have elections in North Korea? The ballots feature one candidate, a candidate who has been chosen by the party. The ballot box is monitored by a party official. It is supplied with a red pen so that voters can strike through the candidate’s name. If a majority of voters use the red pen to reject the party’s candidate a new candidate is chosen and another election is held. I am told that similar elections in Communist China occasionally overrule the party’s first choice.
When we hold elections, it seems that we fear that the forceful hand of government, (a government that assumes to have the authority to touch everything that is important to us), may pretend to represent our foolish neighbors for a term. This fear is so compelling that few of us even consider using the red pen. ”
https://markgresham.substack.com/p/a-chinese-theater
Yes, and what we see is that the greatest vulnerability of power systems is not violence.
It’s:
mass administrative non-compliance
information refusal and information dropout
psychological delegitimization
“unconscious solidarity between citizens” (this is what the voting in Ireland is)
Or in their own terms:
“Loss of narrative authority + behavioral non-cooperation.”
That is the true Achilles heel of any system.
And if you look at the research on civil disobedience, you realise something uncomfortable:
unconscious solidarity is both the strongest force and the weakest link.
It has been deliberately targeted — repeatedly — through psyops, narrative shaping, and social-engineering strategies.
Why?
Because it is the cheapest and most effective method to prevent collective action.
And this is exactly what the major research lines have been documenting for decades — each in their own way, but all pointing to the same structural weakness.
1. Chenoweth & Stephan (2011; 2020 updates)
Non-violent disobedience is 2–3 times more effective than violent uprisings.
It works because:
mass participation lowers risk
costs for the system skyrocket
loyalty shifts happen faster
the system cannot stop thousands of micro-acts of non-cooperation
2. Gene Sharp – 198 Methods of Non-Cooperation
Sharp showed that regimes collapse when citizens combine:
non-violent non-compliance
symbolic disruption (art, ritual, silence)
parallel structures (alternative information & culture)
3. James C. Scott – “Weapons of the Weak”
Disobedience hides in daily micro-acts:
invisible sabotage
rhythmic delays
selective rule-following
feigned compliance
The system believes everything is normal while it is being hollowed out.
4. Chenoweth’s 3.5% Rule (2021)
When only 3.5% actively refuse to cooperate,
the system becomes unsustainable.
5. Psychological Reactance
People resist when autonomy or dignity is violated,
when rules lose legitimacy,
when logic collapses.
And here is the part no one dares to say openly:
Collective disobedience is amplified by mirror neurons and social permission.
“I see you doing it, so I can do it too.”
But with AI now operating as the counter-force,
those natural human mechanisms can be disrupted faster than ever before.
So yes:
and Unconscious solidarity has become the last line of defense for human dignity.
Which raises the real question:
If the social fabric of trust has been fundamentally damaged, is humanity lost?
Or is this a hinge point?
What do we the 99% need from each other to gave each other trust and Unconscious solidarity? do they know CBDC/ Basic income on their terms?? and ghee I hope there are a few clear-minded people on our side who can still turn the ship, because if the trajectory remains in their hands, humanity is lost.
@Mo
You made some solid points here and thanks for all the great references / examples.
Lest you forget…
“The authority of the Führer has now been wholly established. Votes are no longer taken.
The Führer decides.”
– Goebbels
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
“The election is over. We won.” (Reporter’s voice – “How do you know that?”)
“It’s all over, but the counting. And we’ll take care of the counting.”
– Congressman Peter King (R-NY), before the 2004 election
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
“There exists a shadowy Government with its own Air Force, its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism, and the ability to pursue its own ideas of national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself.”
– Senator Daniel K. Inouye
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
“If voting made any difference they wouldn’t let us do it.”
– Mark Twain
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
“Why would any senator spend millions of dollars to get elected to a job that pays $174,000 a year?”
– Major Patriot
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
“There is no such thing as grass roots any more. It’s all astro turf.”
– Henry Makow
– – – – – – – – – – – – –
SOMETHING’S WRONG (song)
https://old.bitchute.com/video/mDNcoVpZXWgW/
Loved Corbett’s “Mexican presentation” (lol the restraint)
Excellent theatrical delivery.
That presentation is core anarchism.
Similar to Larken Rose’s preaching, and exactly what the audience is expecting and should receive when they attend a conference about anarchism / voluntaryism.
(And not eight hours of Flat Earth theory – on the main stage – just saying)
Corbett gives much to think about, here.
What qualifies as a ‘spoiled ballot’?
PS If you haven’t noticed, the US and Europe are run and overrun by spoiled children.
Question: which country has the most honest elections, and how is it done?
@think•a•bout
I think that you are asking the wrong question.
Firstly, one must ask the question :
What exactly is a country?
And, how does such an entity attain such a status?
In short, every country in North America (and every country elsewhere as far as I am aware) is essentially an area drawn within lines on a map within which a certain band of imperialistic, anthropocentric and greedy thugs has managed to murder, oppress, trick, lie, steal and gaslight their way into taking land from a diverse group of place based animistic cultures (by force used in combination with various types of fraud and other chicanery) and they now claim to have the right to tell people what they are and are not allowed to do with their lives and their money (within that geographic region of stolen land).
Nation states poison the water, destroy the ecosystems that provide clean air, food, medicine and beauty. They do so for greed and they shorten your lifespan and quality of life by doing so (yes every single one does this) https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/poll-of-the-month-are-all-involuntary
Within that region of land (that a group of specific thugs masquerading as noble individuals has declared they own through violence and force) those particular organized criminals claim to have the “authority” to extract money from anyone that is born in that region (whether you like it or not, and if you resist, they will assault you with armed thugs, steal your possessions, kidnap you and lock you in a cold dark room). This is true of all nation-states, regardless of how honest their “elections” are presented to be.
The real question then becomes, in pre-statist and pre-nation state place based cultures, what was the mode of governance that was the most life affirming, aligned with honoring free will, encouraging of the best qualities in humanity and regenerative for the ecosystems those cultures depended on?
Finding that answer requires honing your scope of inquiry in from the untenable, disparity creating, oligarchy breeding, intrinsically degenerative/corruptible and bureaucratically bloated/inefficient scale of nationstate governance down to communities and regional coalitions of communities that chose to live a certain way of their own free will (because they shared a vision of living in service of life, using their unique gifts to enrich their communities and because their common animistic worldview galvanized their creative potential in a reverent way).
IMO it started with organized religious states and crusades and jihads, etc. killing by the millions because my god is better then your god.
The nomadic tribal cultures here fought some of their neighbors for food and camping spots after the sources where played out. “Civilized” people fought people all over the world for natural resources and transportation routes and slaves.
But then again, we have been lied to about our history so we really don’t know the truth about what came before now do we??
I mean giant cathedrals built in a few years by horse and buggy cultures, no electricity or transportation to actually move tons of granite and marble nor importers to get supplies from overseas.
CAUGHT IN THE DREAM (song)
https://old.bitchute.com/video/VgucD740mQtR/
@ejdoyle
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
You describe the adolescent arrogance and squandered millennia of imperialistic centralized religious institution dogma driven civilizations fairly accurately in my opinion, though modern statism is less about God and more about fiat, Stockholm syndrome, war racketeering and resource monopolies. Though, it is a sort of religion (despite its often godless nature) so there are some parallels there too.
When you mentioned “The nomadic tribal cultures” however, you neglected to mention the ancient indigenous townsfolk of what is now called “North America”. There were nomadic cultures yes, but there were also others that set down roots, built communities (longhouse villages in the case of the region where I live) and they permanently altered forest ecology to enrich biodiversity, focus old growth trees into being predominantly nut bearing and fruit bearing trees (via using seed saving, controlled burns of underbrush and coppicing).
Some of the nomadic people were more militant than others, some were actually opposed to overt violent aggression and slavery.
Some of the indigenous town building and food forest tending people were also more inclined to engage in raids of their neighbors, and again, others were not.
There were those that banded together in alliances of communities (such as these people: https://archive.org/details/1491colonistsindigenousviewsonliberty1/haudenosauneefeminismequalityandleadership.JPG ) and only went to war when provoked and there were others that went to war as a routine to plunder and conquer.
The cathedrals you mention are interesting, though, to me, an intentionally manmade old growth food forest is a Cathedral of a sort, and much more impressive to me than a pretty rock building. Pretty buildings made of stone can be inspiring, and provide shelter, those are meaningful things, but an old growth food forest can feed you, heal you, inspire you, create clean reliable water sources (springs), attract animals that are beautiful and provide a source of food, provide endless building materials via coppicing and build soil.
Thus, when I think of the types of cultures that were animistic and created what I describe above, vs those that think humans are the most important, intelligent, deserving and divine being on the planet, and the types of results we can observe from both in the long term, it is clear to me which type of culture is worth learning from and building on their traditions using modern knowledge.
>>When you mentioned “The nomadic tribal cultures” however, you neglected to mention the ancient indigenous townsfolk of what is now called “North America”.>>
You might have chosen a different tone to share what YOU think I should have done. My comments are meant, as often as I can, to be brief and to the point, not essays of my knowledge unless they are some sort on going conversation. Since I have offered here that I studied with tribal shamans and medicine men and women you might have not found that lecture necessary hey?
>>The cathedrals you mention are interesting, though…>
You say: “though” I hear: In spite of your lack of understanding EJ :-/
Do you understand how you and others here speak to me? Like some vernacular competition raising your hand to be picked by the teacher sort of stuff or just passive aggressive put downs.
Or in general to others hundreds of words to exhibit knowledge or something??
There is a BIG difference in just offering some facts or quotes opposed to lecturing.
Did you watch the video link?
@ejdoyle
I had no idea you were so sensitive.
Lets keep in mind that you commented in response to me.
I stated a fact, you do not like it, I get it.
I am not in the market for writing tone lessons.
Rather than risk upsetting you any further with improper wording that hurts your feelings, I think i`ll just refrain from engaging.
Don’t talk down to me to give me that “you’re so sensitive” crap trying to hide behind. Just like so many, you are unable to accept responsibility for your behavior.
So “let’s keep in mind” that YOU know you are a bull s artist who needs attention hence your thousands of words over explaining your self most every post from James.
So don’t try and lecture me on anything. You really don’t have anything I want to know about.
Here’s something to THINK ABOUT, just backing my play about cathedrals. This is one of the best and easiest vids of many I have watched, about 20 mins, to grok about the idea of significant missing history and facts from a recent reset…
Can be an important ‘doorway’ or cathartic event for you should you chose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_1v-fn9E44
Thanks for posting more content getting people thinking about the slave suggestion box James.
These discussions are always worth having, exposing ourselves to new ideas and perspectives from fellow statist regime subverters and dissenters.
I may not chose the same strategy to undermine the foundations of the tyranny of statism as the “vote ballot spoilers”, however, I respect those in Ireland that chose to express themselves in the way that they did, and I stand with them in spirit, in solidarity.
At 25:34 James asks: But what if … ?
What we need is another ‘If…’ movie, akin to the 1968 film starring Malcolm McDowell .
Only this time the Big Box office plot would involve an entire nation spoiling their ballots at an election that would have a ripple effect around the entire world.
But alas, the establishment would never let such a movie see the light of day.
It would be considered far too risky to let out of the big box.
Elections by lottery (sortition) could be a good beginning, giving a fairer balance to the legislature, removing a lot of the institutionalised graft.
With the resultant weakening of the power bases, countries will lose definition and will start to take on more natural forms.
I’ve been doing this for years.
Here in Australia voting is compulsory and not voting without a “valid” reason attracts a fine.
I couldn’t be bothered going through the hassle of “explaining” myself.
This is the reason why I cast what in Australia is called a “donkey vote.”
I usually write something rude on it or whatever pops into my head.
At the last federal election in 2025 I wrote “government = slavery” on the ballot paper.
In a very small way it feels like showing them the middle finger.
According to official figures, in 2025, Australia wide the informal vote was 5.6%, a rise of .41% from the previous (s)election.
Another thought provoking episode of #SOLUTIONSWATCH, James
… and certainly lots more food for thought amongst the Comments
I’d be remiss if I neglected to share the video, linked below, by the inimitable Clint Richardson, whose message dovetails nicely with this topic
Vote N.O.T.A. For President In 2016! – TheCorporationNation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6G2XwmszYE
Spoil the Podcast….
Nope, I’m not in the mood to read, hear, listen to how stupid and worthless it is casting your vote and perpetuating statism, yadayadayada. So, at the moment, I can’t bear to click ‘Spoil the Vote’ open.
For all you American Corbetteers out there, now 19 years or older, if you spoiled the vote last year, hope ya like what ya got in the White House.
Hmm, any Venezuelan fishermen out there in Corbett land??
Have fun.
So you voted for the lesser of two evils i guess. If so, you’re the one deserving the blame you’re addressing towards “american corbetteers”
James,
Hell yes!!!! Your summary in this video at 7:50 is perfect! Thank you for reiterating this for probably the thousandth time. Thank you!!! We must stop playing their game. Yes.
The secessionist American colonists were traitors (dissenters) who declared the sovereignty of each of us, which denied the sole sovereignty of King George III AND all would-be authoritarians. This was a new political paradigm, historically. The backlash was immediate. The politically powerful who robbed everyone, including each other, murdered those who dared to praise the new concept of “individual rights”. Their covert counter revolt was immediate with the replacement of The Articles of Confederation with the authoritarian US Constitution. No matter, it’s “We the People” who triumphed, simply by refusing to pay the 10% whiskey tax. Was this treason? No, the feds usurped their powers. Usurpation is treason. Even if the people did waive their rights, they still have them to invoke INSTANTLY. That’s why they are called “inalienable”.