All Of My Friends Are Anarchists ( They Just Don't know It ...Yet )
Taxation is theft by James Goodfellow
(libertarian)
Thursday, November 25, 2010
A repost of an article I first posted on usenet in 96:
27 Feb 1996
All Of My Friends Are Anarchists
( They Just Don't know It ...Yet )
How can I make that claim? It seems pretty arrogant to claim to know someone's mind better than him or herself. Yet everyone I know is morally offended by theft, and therein lies the key to my claim.
Government is funded by taxation, taxation is theft, and therefore government is made possible by theft. Anarchy literally means "no government". If you would outlaw theft, you must consequently outlaw government, and therefore you are an anarchist.
If I haven't lost you by now, read me out. The last paragraph contains a mouthful, one that deserves careful scrutiny. If I can convince you of each of the statements, I believe you will concede my conclusion, and maybe even apologize for the things you thought when you read the title :)
GOVERNMENT IS FUNDED BY TAXATION
Well, they certainly operate that way now; and have always done so to my knowledge. It seems that coercion is easier and more financially rewarding than persuasion.
TAXATION IS THEFT
This statement begs for an in depth discussion of property (the object of theft). I will however refrain my enthusiasm and refer the reader to countless other books on this topic - your local library is a good place to start.
My friends sensibilities are offended when something they have worked for, be it material or spiritual, is taken from them without their permission, This to them is theft.
All of these people grumble at the tax collector, some more than others. They grumble because they feel their taxes are too high, or in my way of looking at things, they feel that at least part of their money is being stolen.
Some of their taxes would be given freely : for defense, law & order, etc, just as it is given for other services : dry cleaning, lawn care, etc. The rest is extracted at the point of a gun - the threat of going to jail for tax evasion.
If you agree with these observations so far, I am sure you could find at least 1 government program that you would not voluntarily fund. That program is partially funded with money stolen from you. And since there is much disagreement over which programs are worthy of funding, I claim that every government program is funded to some degree with stolen money.
If you remove coercion from taxes, you are left with a different animal. It already has a name : voluntary exchange for mutual benefit. None of my friends grumble about that. What differentiates taxation from voluntary exchange is the coercive part, or theft.
GOVERNMENT IS MADE POSSIBLE BY THEFT
If A = B, and B = C, the A must = C.
If you take money from someone against their will, you are a thief. This fact is not altered by the amount you stole, or what you intend to do with it. The offense may be little or large, it is still an offense.
Since all governments have had the option to fund their programs voluntarily, and none to my knowledge have done so, I conclude that government , at least as history knows it, is not possible without the engine of taxation.
ANARCHY MEANS NO GOVERNMENT
Most of my friends connote anarchy with chaos. That isn't the normal result of anarchy. If you doubt this, simply observe that the worlds governments exist, for the most part peacefully in anarchy. There is currently no world government presiding over the various country governments on a world-wide basis.
There is no reason to doubt that this would not work on a smaller scale. And if you correctly observe that wars between governments occur occasionally in this environment of anarchy, please observe the myriad of civil (intra-government, within a sphere that excludes anarchy) wars today.
Anarchy is not a promise of Utopia, and neither is government. The first simply has a moral foundation, the second does not.
IF YOU WOULD OUTLAW THEFT, YOU MUST OUTLAW GOVERNMENT
Contradictions cannot exist. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.
One of the stated core functions of the US federal government is to establish justice. Funding this effort with stolen money is the height of irony. If this is not a recipe for disaster, I have never seen one.
THEREFORE, YOU ARE AN ANARCHIST
If you would not live with contradictions :)
Did you like this article? If you did, Thumb It! 11
thumbs so far
The views expressed
in this article are those of James Goodfellow only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
James Goodfellow is solely responsible for the contents
of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated
with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
