I understand that voluntarily voting in a eletction is morally unjustifiable as you are participating in the decision-making process of a force-initiating armed gang. It is also seen as consenting to be ruled over by the government. I have read some of the discussion about referendums on this forum (from 2007) and I get that voting in typical referendums (i.e. ones which are for a specific law) is in the same category as voting in elections. However, a new dimension is added when a referendum is not for a law, but for the actual abolition of a state (or in this case, not the full abolition of the British state of course but the abolition of its jurisdiction over Scotland).
I live in Scotland and for me the issue is not (as it is for most here) a decision between voting yes or no to independence, but between voting yes or not at all. The way I see it, if I were to vote no, I'd be consenting to the rule of the British state, which over its history has given me a bounty of reasons never to do, so that's that option out the window.
So, not voting means I'm not contributing to the chance of secession (assuming that the referendum isn't rigged of course, which we can never be sure of) but I do keep my full principled integrity by not consenting to be ruled over. On the other hand, voting yes increases the chance of having a more local government (yay) and practically, the state couldn't care less if I consent or not of course, but I do lose out on some principled integrity. Another factor which (to anyone who knows what the Scots are like) obviously doesn't phase the population of Scotland is the fact that it's a very, very socialist country and therefore any genuine democracy would result in the government becoming "larger" in the American sense. I'm not sure "big government" is ok just because it's geographically small.
Anyway, I think I've expressed the fact that I'm in two minds about this well enough. I'd very much like to hear what people on here have to say about this, especially since there is nobody else who would actually understand this perspective or take it seriously. Apart from literally one friend, the only people I know here who oppose the state are "anarcho" communists so I'm not getting any useful feedback from them.
So, to vote or not to vote?
