The concept of ‘right & wrong’ implies the common understanding of a set of criteria to compare actions to. Since most people do not have that readily available, condemning the actions of others is often combative.
In this episode we discuss
-defining terms
-efficiency of protesting
-why protesting government is like voting (and doesn’t work)
-long term and short term goals of protest
Protesting is important. Understanding what we are protesting, why, and how to be effective in the right context is also important!
What is the true cost of interjecting unwarranted coercion into peaceful acts?
That’s a huge question to answer. We break this down into smaller, yet still fairly big topics.
-The Broken Window Fallacy
-The Tragedy of the Commons
-How taxes coerce conformity in other aspects of life
-How tax funded regulations encourage poverty
The unintended consequences of taxation are nearly infinite. What doesn’t have to be is our nescient about them. By understanding what wealth, how it is created, and what its purpose is we can break down the idea of taxation and show the world what it really is:
A practice befitting a less civilized, intelligent, and courageous period of Humanity’s history.
With sufficient imagination one can always conjure up the outlandish exception to the rule. I am not interested in satisfying all possible individual scenarios. I am only interested in discovering dependable moral principles on which to base my life. Individual situations must be dealt with given those specific circumstances. It is not my place to think of an answer to all of them.
True freedom is not the recognition that there will be no moral dilemmas, but that those dilemmas will not be given the moral pass that the State or any action that appeals to the State claims to possess. This undoubtedly applies to receiving stolen currency in the form of financial aid or grants from the State. No amount of appeals to pity or appeals to emotion will change the immorality of asking for stolen currency from a monopoly on initiated aggression. It does not matter whom the stolen currency goes to and for what purpose it is used. If a thief steals my currency and then assures me that he will use it for helping his sick grandmother that still would not excuse the violent expropriation of currency AKA theft. It does nothing whatsoever to alter the initial immorality of the act. The ends never justify the means. This is a principle I will never concede. Once the compromise of one’s principles begins it is often the precursor to rationalizing truly monstrous acts.
How does one help the poor and indigent the best? It is a testament to the charitable spirit of human nature that many people ask me this question when I advocate an abolition of the Welfare State. How will we help those in need if we do not force our neighbors to “donate” a portion of their wealth at the barrel of a gun? Indeed if coercion is required to carry out your idea it is safe to assume your idea is worthless. If many people vote to propagate the violent redistribution of funds via the Welfare State, they could’ve organized to do the very same task voluntarily. It is never compassionate or charitable to decide what to do with other people’s stolen funds. That is the kernel of evil and the initiation of force.
The poor and needy are helped by giving them the tools to help themselves. Start a business to employ them, teach them useful skills, educate, and enlighten them. By all these methods they will lift themselves out of poverty. They will gain self-knowledge so they can pass it down to their progeny and so continue the ever-expanding wealth creation that is the legacy of the human race.
“They say if you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day, but if you teach a man to fish then he’s gotta get a fishing license, but he doesn’t have any money. So he’s got to get a job and get into the Social Security system and pay taxes, and now you’re gonna audit the poor cocksucker, ’cause he’s not really good with math. So he’ll pull the IRS van up to your house, and he’ll take all your shit. He’ll take your black velvet Elvis and your Batman toothbrush, and your penis pump, and that all goes up for auction with the burden of proof on you because you forgot to carry the one, ’cause you were just worried about eating a fucking fish, and you couldn’t even cook the fish ’cause you needed a permit for an open flame. Then the Health Department is going to start asking you a lot of questions about where are you going to dump the scales and the guts…” Doug Stanhope, stand up comedian
