Ⓧ2012

We are America's Ⓧ-voters. Some of us are "ex-voters," some of us have never voted.

Conventional wisdom construes our decision to abstain from participation in America's elections as a signifier of "apathy."

The purpose of this petition is to put the lie to that conventional wisdom by stating our reasons for not voting.

We choose not to vote because we decline to be governed by the winners of America's elections.

By choosing not to vote, we implicitly deny our consent -- which, according to the Declaration of Independence, is the basis of any government's just powers -- to the present "government of the United States of America." This petition makes that denial explicit.

We deny you resort to the principle of "majority rule." Even if we accept that principle (as some of us likely do), the fact is that in most elections a majority of the populace doesn't vote, either by choice or because they're forbidden to do so. Even in those rare elections which garner majority participation, non-voters generally command a plurality versus any candidate.

The present "government of the United States" does not command the consent of the governed, and therefore fails its own founding document's test of legitimacy.

While this document takes the form of a "petition," we're not really asking anything of you except to leave us alone -- or, better yet, dissolve your "government" and leave everyone alone.

We don't need your assistance in "institut[ing] new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to [us] shall seem most likely to effect [our] Safety and Happiness." How -- or whether -- we choose to go about that is our business, not yours.

You're free to join us in considering the matter, of course ... but only after you've removed your badges, lowered your guns, and abandoned the pretense that you're entitled to our obedience or allegiance.