I have already posted libertarian philosopher David Gordon's explanation of how taxes are indeed slavery. And I have also warned that more lefties would come out and attack Rand's comment likening taxation to slavery.
Enter Salon:
[Rand's argument that taxation is slavery] is a dumb argument. And it’s upsetting to hear this dumb argument coming from someone who is trying to be president, but will go back to writing and approving legislation if/when that doesn’t work out. Taxation is not tantamount to slavery. The only thing that’s comparable to slavery is actual slavery. You might not like it that a portion of your paycheck is sent to the feds and your state government, and you may disagree with how your tax dollars are spent, but that is in no way comparable to being kept in bondage and having the fruits of your labor stolen from you...
It gets even worse when you remember that Rand Paul is trying to make inroads with black voters and repair his party’s abysmally bad reputation with African-Americans. Rand obviously understands at a certain level that slavery was a uniquely horrific crime, the memory of which still haunts our politics. After the shootings in Charleston last month, Paul called for the Confederate flag to be removed from grounds of the South Carolina Capitol because “to every African-American in the country it’s a symbolism of slavery to them and now it’s a symbol of murder to this young man.” Here we are, just a couple of weeks later, and he’s comparing the grotesque human rights violations represented by that flag to the banal act of filing your annual tax return.There is plenty of juicy stuff to go after in this Salon comment:
you may disagree with how your tax dollars are spent, but that is in no way comparable to being kept in bondage and having the fruits of your labor stolen from you.Really, taxation isn't the fruits of your labor stolen from you?
banal act of filing your annual tax return.Taxation a banal act, really?
Will Rand bite on thes juicy bits provided by Salon and use it to explain the libertarian perspective? Not a chance.
Will Rand take this as a libertarian teaching moment and advance Gordon's argument? Not a chance.
The next time he is asked about his statement, he will muddy his view and attempt to give the impression that he meant something different.
Why exactly should libertarians be excited about this guy?
-RW
"Why exactly should libertarians be excited about this guy?"
ReplyDeleteI do not understand the libertarian support for Rand either. It is as mystifying as suggesting that taxation is anything other than slavery. Both positions are exceedingly bizarre.
Hmmm... remember back in high school when we learned about feudalism and we all agreed that it was really bad because the workers had to work for the land owners and that that was, like, a form of slavery?! Was feudalism bad only in that the timing was bad (workers caring for the landowners' fields during harvest instead working their own fields during this critical time), or was it that serfs had to work for the landowners at all?
ReplyDeleteSeems to me that the statement 'banal act of filing your annual tax return' is intentional misdirection. Sure, the administrative act of filing a doc is banal, but that's not the point when one says that taxation is slavery - is it?!
To add further evidence that Taxes are indeed slavery, remember this: Most Tax debt can't even be wiped out in bankruptcy! The Feds get theirs, no matter what!
ReplyDeleteSalon has never heard of Hannah Arendt? Evil is indifference to suffering, and its typically done in a banal fashion.
ReplyDeleteBanal? As in the banality of evil? That banal?
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, why, after reading the article, am I left with the impression that the author never progressed beyond a government-run education level and talking points? Talk about banality.
ReplyDeleteHere is Ron telling Elliot Spitzer straight out that taxation is theft.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiNGnNRADwk
The Salon writer doesn't view the relationship between the people and the government as relationships between sovereign human beings. If he did he might question the validity of the "social contract" which all of us supposedly have made with each other; question the idea that this is our government which belongs to all of us because we elect those who will rule from amongst us. And question the ideas that if this is so then each of us has a responsibility to support it. Hence taxation.
ReplyDeleteIndividual sovereignty has no standing with him in relation to the government.
The govt. is like a divine being, the divine will of the people, and the politicians are merely giving expression to it with all their edicts. The idea of consent and consensual relationships, what they are and are not, that we and he are all familiar with are irrelevant. The state stands above us, is greater than us. It's will overrides our individual wills.
This state as a being is imaginary to me, but not to him.
All I see are individuals relating to other individuals. Taxation is slavery because a part of my life is taken from me with out my consent by other people called politicians who will do me great harm if I refuse them.
We should stop comparing stuff to slavery. Mises was right. A minimal government is necessary to make and enforce laws. Taxes should be minimal, but they are necessary to the maintenance of law and order.
ReplyDeleteWhy as a politician would I want taxes to be minimal? Me and my fellow "law makers" want more and more power to do more and more "good things" for our fellow Americans. We need more and more money! Get it? Besides, minimal government is BORING!!
DeleteHistory thus far has shown us that minimal government has been trashed.
Simply not true.
DeleteWags
DeleteMises was mistaken. Coercion and violence are never right.
Minimal becomes maximal. Principles are established to have that minimum government and from there the limits are just matters of opinion.
Delete