I hope I have the fortitude and character to choose the moral course and not accept this plunder of fellow citizens by my government.
Natural Law ping!
http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html#SECTION_G716
“Socialism Is Legal Plunder”
“Mr. de Montalembert has been accused of desiring to fight socialism by the use of brute force. He ought to be exonerated from this accusation, for he has plainly said: “The war that we must fight against socialism must be in harmony with law, honor, and justice.””
“But why does not Mr. de Montalembert see that he has placed himself in a vicious circle? You would use the law to oppose socialism? But it is upon the law that socialism itself relies. Socialists desire to practice legal plunder, not illegal plunder. Socialists, like all other monopolists, desire to make the law their own weapon. And when once the law is on the side of socialism, how can it be used against socialism? For when plunder is abetted by the law, it does not fear your courts, your gendarmes, and your prisons. Rather, it may call upon them for help.”
“To prevent this, you would exclude socialism from entering into the making of laws? You would prevent socialists from entering the Legislative Palace? You shall not succeed, I predict, so long as legal plunder continues to be the main business of the legislature. It is illogical — in fact, absurd — to assume otherwise.”
Free Download:
“Essays on Political Economy”
Author: Frederic Bastiat
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15962/15962-8.txt
thanks for ping.
It’s hardly considered plunder when it is your own money you are receiving. Just my 2 cents...
Tell you what, just cash the checks and send the money to me. That way you know the money will be spent helping a fellow citizen rather than being spent on building mosques and paying for the luxurious retirement of Palestinian terrorists or African dictators.
I promise to spend the money at the local grocery store and to provide honest wages for my doctor. I promise.
i wouldn’t give it up voluntarily, but support any legislation to phase it out — pay older seniors, options for middle group and no new comers.
It is a dilemma isn't it? The government gives trillions to cronies and supportive constituents and when it comes time for us to get a few scraps we are loath to take our share of the plunder.
The correct moral stance should be to say NO to the tax collector. The problem though with that stance is that it makes your betters angry at you. The penalty for making the ruling class angry is prison.
The Machiavellian answer is to go Galt and avoid contributing to the system. This is the correct moral stance and the wise path to follow.
The problem with paying taxes is that it affirms our acceptance of the system and makes us complicit in our own enslavement.
To fix the system all we have to do is say no more. I have gone Galt as much as I can without risking prison.
Excellent and worth posting. That all FReepers would read it, learn it and pass it on.
Expanding the voting franchise is not without its risks. Here’s an interesting article by John Lott on the damage:
http://johnrlott.tripod.com/op-eds/FoxNewsBiasAgWPol052608.html