The Ghost Of Henry David Thoreau

taxes pay for things we need. if you're not willing to help pay for things that help the common good, then go start a country that's purely a free market and see how that works for you. tell me when you pave your first road. What's the "common good" and who gets to decide what it is: you, me, the government? Maybe I'm missing something here but I thought the common good was the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness and not having those rights infringed upon. Did some other "common good" appear since the Constitution was written that changed the definition to mean good for some at the expense of others? Also, what do YOU get from your taxes, I'd like to know? What "common good" are you paying for? Please inform me, I'm dying to know!! When having this conversation I think it is important to first agree upon a few certain truths. First, taking something that does not belong to you is theft. Second, theft is immoral. Third, the income tax is not voluntary so it is theft. Fourth, therefore, theft is immoral. Fifth, making something legal does not make it right. Just as legal honor killings and the subjagation of women and minorities was wrong. Sixth, legal taxation is legal plunder see Bastiat The Law for more. Seventh, to advoate an immoral act is to also be immoral. The only thing that exists is the individual everything else is either a conception or preception made by individuals. For example, one cannot show a family without showing the individual and one cannot successfully show society without showing the individual. Therefore, what is good must lie with the individual and not be "common." And if the individual gives up his good for the good of others than it must be a vouluntary transaction. If it is taken by force the negation of good is taking place. Murray Rothbard wrote For A New Liberty in which he states how to "protect liberties while paving streets" at the same time. He also rightfully defines society as, “not a living entity but simply a label for a set of interacting individual.” Furthermore, stating the assumption that if the government did not steal in order to pave streets would result in not having streets is an absurd presumption. Streets are needed for trade and commerce, this is Say's Law, a demand has been created therefore the market will create a supply. With competition the streets will not only be better and well maintained they will also be cheaper to produce. This is simple economics that is demonstrated over and over in the market. In the 20th Century alone the world's governments were responsible for the deaths of 360 million people. These are not the institutions that I want paving my streets in the first place. Other people are not our property therefore we should not treat them as such. Forcing individuals to "pay" and income tax is treating them as property. I will win the argument, that I am the person that knows what is best for me, everytime. So please stop treating me and others as your property. The fruits of my labor belongs to me only and not you. I work for it, so I should decide where 100% of it goes. Stealing 20% makes me 20% a slave and the property of others.

And I would make two suggestions to you: 1. Read the threads before replying. At no point did any poster "[raise] government, government officials and bureaucrats to noble and messianic stature". Making that claim - absent any evidence - automatically brings into question any opinions you set out. 2. Take a moment and read the Board's rules against personal attacks on members. Coming in and on your first post alleging that posters are "ignorant" is a good way to earn a ban. If you want to claim that your allegation of "ignorance" was general in nature, then my response is that the burden of clarity rests with the person posting the statement - make certain that your posts are not, as was the case above, filled with ambiguities that permit the reader to make a reasonable inference that your insult was directed to other posters and not "in general". Looks like a nerve was struck… Had I meant to insult or make allegations against you or anyone else on the thread they would have been clear and concise. Hence why I started the post with the phrase “general comments.” So the covert threats are not needed. The only other part of your response that merits a reply is your assertion of guilt until proven innocent with your statement, “the burden of clarity rests with the person posting the statement.” I say otherwise, one is innocent until proven guilty, therefore the accuser must present the burden of proof to the allegations made. Regardless, I would rather discuss politics and economics and not he said she said diatribe.

A few general comments on the current thread: Murray Rothbard, economist from the Austrian School, wrote: "It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a 'dismal science.' But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance." I find it completely absurd that individuals continue to confuse the corporatism of post-Civil War America/Industrial Revolution with Laissez-faire capitalism and the free market. Reconstruction in the South was a complete government controlled process of disenfranchisement and redistribution. Both industrialist and government officials saw the benefits from this, which led to the fascist practices in some industries, like factory tariffs and railroad subsidies, during the Industrial Revolution. Tariffs and subsides are not free market capitalistic practices they are protectionist practices and market manipulation by the government. These so called “Robber Barons” were in fact risk takers and entrepreneurs that created hundreds of thousands of jobs that ensured America’s place atop the global economy. Rockefeller and his consorts may not have been saints, but unlike government, I cannot find any evidence that they were ever responsible for the murder or deaths of anyone. On the other hand, in the 20th Century alone governments are responsible for the deaths of an estimated 360 Million People (http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/DBG.CHAP1.HTM), that is more than the current population of the US. Why aren’t these individuals who are so concerned about robber barons and the evils of capitalism advocating a complete end to immoral and corrupt government? Maybe you should be calling for an end to the State’s monopoly on the use of force. So before you go wrongfully criticizing the free market and raising government, government officials and bureaucrats to noble and messianic stature, while enthusiastically awaiting your government welfare/bribe check (stimulus check) you must first climb yourself out of your state of ignorance or you can just remain silent.