Teoría política
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Serfdom, Taxation and Individualism
Enviado por el día 30 de Noviembre de 2005 a las 01:25
For some this issue may appear to be moot—taxation, like death, is
unavoidable, is what many believe. And many others would like us all to
fall for this because then they would have gained the upper hand about
political economy.
For those who don’t much like the free society and its economic system,
free market capitalism, it’s vital to show that taxation is just. That’s
because taxation means government owns everything, we merely rent some
space and time from it for which we have to pay a bundle. That is how it
used to be in the era of feudalism—the monarch owned it all and for our
use of some of it collected a hefty tax. (This is what Robin Hood
protested, by the way—he didn’t take from the rich but from thieves!) Not
only did all property belong to the king—the government—but everyone’s
labor did too. That’s what serfdom means—you and your labor belong to the
government.
There are those today, in prestigious universities, who insist that this
old system is correct and none of us owns anything. “The myth of
ownership” is what two such scholars call it, Liam Murphy and Thomas Nagel
of New York University, as well as quite a few others. They insist that
everything that you and I may regard as our own property is, in fact, the
property of the government or the public. We get the government’s
permission to use it but only at a high price.
Now this idea makes sense when you accept that government is God here on
earth. Just as everything belongs to God, so such folks believe everything
belongs to government. You may think that the money taxed from us is ours
but these folks claim it isn’t. The reason is that such folks do not even
believe there is a you and me and the rest of us, as separate individuals,
in this world. They are anti-individualists and believe, as the Canadian
philosopher Charles Taylor argued, that we all belong to our communities.
We do not even own our own lives—the right to life is a myth, too, just as
the right to private property.
It was the thesis of the American founders, learned from the English
philosopher John Locke, that individual rights are natural—the very nature
of a human being makes these rights imperative as part of our social
existence. They were individualists, not collectivists like these new
theorists are and the pre-Lockean thinkers were. In opposition to Karl
Marx, they regarded each person not as but a cell of the most important
individual, namely society (or humanity) but as an individual with an
independent will. Each of us has an individual identity, we are not all
simply part of some larger being and subservient to it.
unavoidable, is what many believe. And many others would like us all to
fall for this because then they would have gained the upper hand about
political economy.
For those who don’t much like the free society and its economic system,
free market capitalism, it’s vital to show that taxation is just. That’s
because taxation means government owns everything, we merely rent some
space and time from it for which we have to pay a bundle. That is how it
used to be in the era of feudalism—the monarch owned it all and for our
use of some of it collected a hefty tax. (This is what Robin Hood
protested, by the way—he didn’t take from the rich but from thieves!) Not
only did all property belong to the king—the government—but everyone’s
labor did too. That’s what serfdom means—you and your labor belong to the
government.
There are those today, in prestigious universities, who insist that this
old system is correct and none of us owns anything. “The myth of
ownership” is what two such scholars call it, Liam Murphy and Thomas Nagel
of New York University, as well as quite a few others. They insist that
everything that you and I may regard as our own property is, in fact, the
property of the government or the public. We get the government’s
permission to use it but only at a high price.
Now this idea makes sense when you accept that government is God here on
earth. Just as everything belongs to God, so such folks believe everything
belongs to government. You may think that the money taxed from us is ours
but these folks claim it isn’t. The reason is that such folks do not even
believe there is a you and me and the rest of us, as separate individuals,
in this world. They are anti-individualists and believe, as the Canadian
philosopher Charles Taylor argued, that we all belong to our communities.
We do not even own our own lives—the right to life is a myth, too, just as
the right to private property.
It was the thesis of the American founders, learned from the English
philosopher John Locke, that individual rights are natural—the very nature
of a human being makes these rights imperative as part of our social
existence. They were individualists, not collectivists like these new
theorists are and the pre-Lockean thinkers were. In opposition to Karl
Marx, they regarded each person not as but a cell of the most important
individual, namely society (or humanity) but as an individual with an
independent will. Each of us has an individual identity, we are not all
simply part of some larger being and subservient to it.
Re: Serfdom, Taxation and Individualism
Enviado por el día 30 de Noviembre de 2005 a las 01:26
But if anti-individualism is a crock, which in my book it certainly is,
then not only is serfdom a vile mistake but so is taxation. Ultimately
some other means of paying for the few proper services of government must
be found because taxation is in fact extortion—“You pay or we put you to
jail,” so we are told, but in fact no one has this authority, no one at
all. Just as no one has the authority to enslave anyone, or to make anyone
into a serf, none has the just authority to extort from another as little
as a penny.
Because an alternative way to pay for legal services hasn’t been widely
discussed—although there are such ways—the anomaly of taxation in a free
society is accepted and now those who don’t much like the free society at
all are happy to use it as a way to reintroduce the system in which
individuals had no rights, indeed, didn’t exist as such.
With government’s growth by leaps and bounds and no opposition found to
this in mainstream politics, there is a serious danger that the
anti-individualist crowd will succeed. The courts are almost completely
under their sway (wiping out private property rights right and left), as
are legislatures.
I say let’s stand up for our rights, including private property rights,
and condemn taxation as Mafia style extortion and insist that it be gotten
rid of just like serfdom has been. That would be taking the American
Founders’ idea to its logical conclusion.
then not only is serfdom a vile mistake but so is taxation. Ultimately
some other means of paying for the few proper services of government must
be found because taxation is in fact extortion—“You pay or we put you to
jail,” so we are told, but in fact no one has this authority, no one at
all. Just as no one has the authority to enslave anyone, or to make anyone
into a serf, none has the just authority to extort from another as little
as a penny.
Because an alternative way to pay for legal services hasn’t been widely
discussed—although there are such ways—the anomaly of taxation in a free
society is accepted and now those who don’t much like the free society at
all are happy to use it as a way to reintroduce the system in which
individuals had no rights, indeed, didn’t exist as such.
With government’s growth by leaps and bounds and no opposition found to
this in mainstream politics, there is a serious danger that the
anti-individualist crowd will succeed. The courts are almost completely
under their sway (wiping out private property rights right and left), as
are legislatures.
I say let’s stand up for our rights, including private property rights,
and condemn taxation as Mafia style extortion and insist that it be gotten
rid of just like serfdom has been. That would be taking the American
Founders’ idea to its logical conclusion.