A bill is currently attempting to be passed in Washington to enact a statewide minimum wage of $15. This is sparking a lively discussion on the topic since it would effectively double of the current federal minimum wage of $7.50. Proponents of the minimum wage say this is necessary in order to keep up with inflation. They assert, “We need to get paid a living wage!” The inconsistencies with the minimum wage reasoning are threefold. The first is that all employees will be receiving this new and improved wage. The second is that wealth is created at a whim by political decree. The third is that dubious definition of the term “living wage”. The fourth is that inflation is a natural motion of a healthy economy.
The very existence of the minimum wage presupposes the erroneous notion that where it not for politicians we would all be making $1 per hour because “greedy capitalists could pay their employees any arbitrary amount of currency. The reality is all businesses exist in direct and indirect competition with other businesses over the acquisition of labor. It is this competition that determines the apropos market value of labor, not the “greedy capitalists”. It all boils down to skills. If you possess more skills you will get paid more as your value to the company is proportionately enhanced. Minimum wage laws only disrupt this natural self-correcting mechanism by introducing force and violence into an otherwise peaceful agreement between employer and employee.
If a worker is making the current minimum wage of $7.50/hour and is producing $10/hour of value to the company, this equates to $2.50/hour of profit for the company. If the new $15 minimum wage law is enacted this significantly changes the dynamics. Now the employer is forced to pay this employee $15/hour, however this employee is still only producing $10/hour of value, this equates to a net loss of $5/hour for the company. In order to stay in business the employer must either appreciably reduce his hours or fire him. If not then he will eventually go out of business. Businesses operate to make currency, not lose it.
The definition of inflation is an increase in the money supply. This can be through the mining of precious metals in gold/silver based economy, through the efforts of the small scale amateur basement counterfeiter, or through the massive legal counterfeit operations of a Central Bank AKA the Mandrake Mechanism, increasing the currency supply, or currency creation. The destructive repercussions of the first two are negligible in comparison to the elephantine effects of the latter. The colossal currency creation of the Federal Reserve, or legal plunder, is the real culprit for the distortions in the economy that produces the Boom/Bust cycles and has caused The Great Depression. Inflation is a symptom of a hijacked economy by a Fascistic group of elite bankers. It is antithetical to a healthy Free Market economy.
After all this we must conclude that it is not the politicians that create wealth, rather it is the multitude of workers and business owners who daily toil to create and innovate the products we cherish. Writing down a command on a piece of paper and then backing it with a gun does not ensure anything but unemployment, job displacement, poverty, and increased State dependency. Understand that politicians have never given anything to the people that they did not already possess. Everything “government” says is a lie and everything it gives was first stolen from someone else. Never forget that.
Unfortunately, the real minimum wage is always zero, regardless of the laws, and that is the wage that many workers receive in the wake of the creation or escalation of a government-mandated minimum wage, because they lose their jobs or fail to find jobs when they enter the labor force. Making it illegal to pay less than a given amount does not make a worker’s productivity worth that amount—and, if it is not, that worker is unlikely to be employed.
Thomas Sowell, “Basic Economics: A Citizen’s Guide to the Economy”
It doesn’t matter if you call yourself a member of the Democrat party, Republican party, Green party, Liberal party , Conservative party, or even Constitution party. If you seek to gain access and use of the greatest mafia in the land known as “government” then you are just another righteous do-gooder who thinks he knows what is best for everyone else and will use the guns of the State to achieve that goal by any and all means necessary. Even if you are a Constitutionalist and seek our “government” to shrink and only abide strictly according to the US Constitution, you are still advocating for the theft and violence that is justified by a piece of paper with ordinary words. By the way never in history have pieces of paper ever restricted the insane whims of genocidal megalomaniacs. Millions have died obeying and believing in the myth of “government” that this piece of paper warrants.
In Plato’s “The Republic” he speaks of philosophers as being the only suitable type of people to rule as king. The analogy is that just as conductors are ideal to lead the orchestra due to their general and extensive knowledge of all the instruments; so too are philosophers ideal to lead the people due to their general and extensive knowledge of human behavior. One vital flaw in this reasoning is that those who populate the orchestra voluntarily decided to join the orchestra and willingly perform under the direction of the conductor. The same cannot be said with people under the rule of “government”. Nobody asked to be born in a particular country and nobody signed a contract to abide by its commands and regulations. Nonetheless our “consent to be ruled” is implicit in our physical presence. Nowhere in any other relationship is this strange situation seen other than that of “government” and the governed.
As Stefan Molyneux would say, if you believe you can enter the leviathan that is “government” and turn it into a force for good, it is better that you start on a smaller scale first. Try to infiltrate the mafia and turn it into a charity. Try to infiltrate the KKK and turn it into a black brotherhood. Do that and I will believe you can turn the “government” into a force for good. Fail to do that and you are just another talking head who speaks in vague deceptions and insignificant tautologies. You are just another petty sociopath who believes he has the answers to all of life’s questions and everyone should live according to your limited understanding of the world.
If you really want to make a difference, then lead a life that is worth emulating. Lead by example rather than by decree. If you truly seek to change and improve the world, then first seek to change and improve yourself. People do not follow mere words, they follow virtuous deeds. Stop vying for the reins of power. Stop vying for use and control of the gun. Put the gun down. Surprisingly humans are more creative, loving, and compassionate when they do not have guns pointed at their heads.
Today is “Remember-the-hired-tools-who-died-while-murdering-raping-and-pillaging-third-world-countries-for-politicians-and-banksters” Day, AKA Memorial Day. It is quite tragic when young teenagers are snatched while still in their innocence and sent to be hired mercenaries based on lies and propaganda. Perhaps it could be rationalized as the logical extension to 12 years of “government” indoctrination, the culmination of an exciting career of being an obedient pawn of the State. Just as the State knows only brute force, coercion, and violence to solve problems; the same can be said for its hired attack dogs known as the police and the military. They are not agencies known for their tact, wisdom, and delicacy, nor do they attract those who possess any measure of intelligence. In fact police departments would intentionally reject any applicants due to their excessively high IQ. Increased intelligence does not harmonize well in a job of mindlessly obeying orders, often to the detriment of peaceful people.
Some may say, “But they died for our freedom! The fact that you can speak now is because they have died for your freedom of speech!” That may have been their initial noble reason for joining but as we all know; the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The result of their desire to help the innocent and protect our freedoms has been an undeniable disaster; perpetual warfare since World War II, genocide, mass murder, fiat currency creation, crippling debt, indiscriminate drone strikes in multiple countries, 900+ military occupations, collateral damage, millions displaced, destruction of infrastructure, fomentation of anger and hatred for the US to name just a few. The US military interventionist acts of aggression throughout the globe have solidified its position as the only true terrorists and the primary threat to freedom everywhere. What started out as the smallest mafia on the planet, the US “government” has swelled to gargantuan proportions eclipsing the horrors of Communist China, Soviet Russia, and Nazi Germany.
Freedoms and rights are not inherited notions. They are not granted to those who politely ask. They are taken by those who demand them by their words and defend them by their actions. If a man tells you he wishes to protect you from other evil men by extorting more currency from your pocket and by limiting your freedoms; then you must consider the distinct possibility that your protector is, in fact, your oppressor. Every tyrant in history who committed unspeakable atrocities emerged onto the political scene not as a tyrant but as a savior or protector.
The Nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.
What would it be like to explain the concept of “government” to an alien? Perhaps the closest comparison would be a Westerner attempting to explain it to an Australian Aboriginal, Amazon Indian, or Native American Indian. According to Dictionary.com “government” is defined as “the political direction and control exercised over the actions of the members, citizens, or inhabitants of communities, societies, and states; direction of the affairs of a state, community etc; political administration: e.g. Government is necessary to the existence of civilized society.” It should be curiously noted the sample sentence that Dictionary.com chooses to use. It seems one should take care of political propaganda even through an online dictionary.
I would like to propose an alternative. “Government is the mythical institution fabricated by the sociopathic gangs and marauders that roamed the land before it was outlined on a map. They conquered, subjugated, and physically enslaved every other free human being and their descendents until the very idea of freedom was obliterated from thought. The borders that outline a nation are but the chalk outlines of dead bodies that form the periphery of one sociopathic gang as oppose to that of the neighboring one. It is the coercive monopoly of violent force on the lives of their tax chattel.”
Our political authoritarian control freaks care about us as much as a farmer cares about the cows he uses to extract milk and meat. He gives them shelter, food, and protection insofar as they can provide him with a steady source of revenue. He does not allow them more freedom to roam out of a sense of compassion or empathy for their well-being but with the full knowledge that from their slightly increased liberty, they will be comparatively happier and therefore more productive.
Know and understand the mental cage and shackles so that you may finally be free of them. Remove yourself from the Matrix by renouncing the State in all its illegitimacy! Recognize that no man is your master! You own your body and all the fruits of your labor! For one man to forcibly extract anything which you created or earned through you blood and sweat is the ultimate crime!
To be GOVERNED is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so. To be GOVERNED is to be at every operation, at every transaction noted, registered, counted, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, prevented, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be place under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, squeezed, hoaxed, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, harassed, hunted down, abused, clubbed, disarmed, bound, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, derided, outraged, dishonored. That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality.
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century
As Voluntaryists we often resist participating in any way “within the system” to effect any meaningful change. However “Jury Nullification” is one of the most effective means by which everyday citizens can throw a monkey wrench into a corrupt system. If enough monkey wrenches are thrown at the machine, hopefully it will bring the stagnant status quo crashing down into the pile of mephitic toxic waste that it is. “Juries in criminal cases are generally, as a rule, required to reach a unanimous verdict, while juries in civil cases typically have to reach a majority on some level. If a defendant has been found guilty of a capital offense (one that could result in the death penalty if the person is eligible) then the opinion of the jury must be unanimous if the defendant is to be sentenced to death. Currently, two states, Oregon and Louisiana, do not require unanimous verdicts in criminal cases.” In these states a verdict of 10-2 is sufficient for conviction. Since the majority of states require a unanimous decision among the jurors, just one dissenting juror can result in a “Hung Jury” where a deadlock is reached and movement cannot be made forward in the trial. This is unbelievably empowering for those who oppose the State. Whilst complete dissolution of the State is a noble goal, it is also the most extreme of goals. It may be helpful to retain this objective whilst simultaneously eroding the foundations of the State from within through education and the practice of Jury Nullification.
Everyone who serves on a jury must understand the principle “If there’s no victim, there’s no crime.” If we use legality as the yardstick, by which to measure what is right, then the Holocaust, Apartheid, Chain Slavery, Stalin’s Great Purge, Mao’s Great Leap Forward, Pol Pot’s genocide etc were all legal and therefore were all right. There comes a point at which every person must decide whether to obey one’s moral compass or obey one’s conscience. They are mutually exclusive actions. Most sane people know and understand that theft, rape, assault, and murder are all morally wrong and therefore do not use violence to solve problems in their daily lives. This moral principle applies ever more importantly in the realm of “government”. For if it is wrong for one person to murder, that breach of morality is not magically altered when murder is done on a grand scale, to the sound of trumpets, waving pieces of colored cloths, and chanting a fictitious deity.
It is not only the juror’s right, but his duty to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment and conscience, though in direct opposition to the instruction of the court.
