You are forgetting that by running a node, you are enforcing, or "voting" in this terminology, on the consensus rules, the chain tip, etc.
When you run a node, you're
following the voters. If you don't decide to mine, but run a node instead, you have no “opinion” in the consensus, because you have no power on the system. The system is empowered only from those who mine, who provide the security.
By running a Bitcoin node, you vote what other voters do.
I never said anyone was voting by running a node. I was offering an analogy.
Okay, I just wouldn't choose to account it that way. Mining
could be compared with elections garnished with some incentive on top of them, but running your own node seems more as a personal benefit to me.
There is a certain level of personal responsibility and duty that come with choosing to participate in any system that can only exist through the voluntary efforts of the members of that system. To choose to do NOTHING to support such a system you choose to use is quite selfish, self-centered, greedy, and anti-social.
In my opinion, running a full node without securing the network is a very expensive choice with the least benefit. It'd be better to simply discuss with other people in this forum; that'd be more beneficial to everyone.
Dialogue
is democracy.