Libertarian men: voting is emasculating!

October 26, 4:24 PMDallas Libertarian ExaminerGarry Reed

Previous Next

11 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Dallas Libertarian Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Politico-Neuroscience: the study of the left brain,
right brain, and libertarian brain. (David Duprey/
AP photo)

Now Libertarians, especially the male kind, have yet another reason not to vote. 

For decades, the Libertarian Party has been urging people not to vote for the two major parties as a matter of principal, pointing out that voting for the lesser of two evils is still a vote for evil.

Radical leftwing anarchist Rothbardian libertarians have been exhorting libertarians not to vote at all, on the premise that government is fundamentally evil because it is based on coercion (extortionistic tax-collecting, for example) and that any participation in government is ipso facto participation in evil.

Even those who wish to vote for None-Of-The-Above are still committing the act of participating in a governmental event, thereby legitimizing government.

Now comes another reason, neither philosophical nor practical, for libertarians to eschew the act of casting ballots for officialdom.

Voting for a losing candidate, as Libertarian Party partisans inevitably do, is psychologically emasculating.

According to a report in The Register (self-proclaimed as "one of the world's biggest online tech publications" originating in London) Duke University neuroscientist Kevin LaBar has discovered that men who voted for John McCain or Bob Barr in the last presidential elections "suffered a serious loss of testosterone as a result of the Obama victory."

The hormone, produced by one's "wedding-tackle" (this is a Brit publication, after all), is considered essential for basic manliness," says The Register.

LaBar's team took saliva samples from a study group of men and women both prior to the election and then at intervals after the results were in.

Men on the politically losing side, those voting either for Republican McCain or Libertarian Barr, experienced "a 28 percent loss of testosterone," which in men is directly linked to important masculine behaviors such as "aggression, risk-taking and response to threats." (There was no mention of other important masculine behaviors such as hunting, fishing, and making farty sounds with the armpit.)

Study participants also filled out questionnaires, which showed that GOP and Libertarian voters reported feelings of "unhappiness" and "submissiveness."

(The fact that Libertarian voters were affected at all should come as a complete surprise to everyone, since nobody ever expects a Libertarian candidate to win any office at any level anyway. When it does happen, will male Libertarian voters blow their gonads and mutate into Wolverine?")

Testosterone levels in Democrat men were unaffected since their standard-bearer won. Women's hormone levels, no matter how they voted, were unaffected, suggesting that they won't be growing hair on their chests and perpetually adjusting their jockstraps any time soon.

So look on the bright side, you Libertarian political activist men. The next time your candidate loses, take the opportunity to get in touch with your feminine side.