[geeks] Liber-fascism

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Sat, 25 Oct 2008, William Barnett-Lewis wrote:

> I am so tired of these people who bitch about taxes while happily using
> the infrastructure the rest of us have paid for.

We only use the infrastructure because it would be illegal to build a
competing one.  Believe me, if I could use an alternative to many of the
government services (and not still have to pay for the government ones), I
would!

Let's say I wanted to deliver mail along my trip to work every day.  I
have to drive that 35 miles, anyway, and there are any number of
businesses I pass by.  If folks would drop off all their mail at say, the
cafe downtown for me to pick up, I could easily deliver mail to any of the
businesses along US-290 and US-183 northbound on my trip to work.  I could
also undercut the US postal service -and- perform same-day service.

If I do that, I go to jail, since it is a violation of US federal law for
any individual or corporation to compete with the USPS in "first class
mail" (service of small mailable matter for less than $1).

Okay, okay.  Let's say we're tired of corruption in the police force and
justice system.  Here's an example:  I was physically assaulted (to a
severity that I was sent to the emergency room) RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY
HOUSE.  The neighbors across the street called 911, and the guy only left
when my neighbor came over and pulled a knife on the attacker (I was
unarmed).  The cops showed up 30 minutes later, the judge set his bond
unreasonably low (similar offense is a $150K bond in neighboring counties,
and even in other communities in this county, but the judge set his to
$15K), so this crazy idiot was back out on the streets before lunch.

I would've liked to file a protective order, but, huh, the police
department took over a week to get the paperwork in.  The "justice" system
isn't advancing the charges because they know I have a civil damages claim
I could bring against him, and Texas law is such that a civil damage claim
resulting from battery is an admission of guilt, so the DA and prosecutor
don't actually have to do their jobs; they can get a rubber-stamp on the
basis of the civil judgement.  Only if I lie and say I don't want to
proceed with a civil suit will they actually get off their asses.

So, let's say I wanted to found a police department that would actually do
its job (and not take a half hour to travel from one end of a 3000 person
town to the other) and a system of courts that would actually do its job.
What would happen?  Right, I'd be sent to jail, because you can't compete
with that "business".

Let's say I wanted to provide water service to people in my city at rates
below what the city charges for their public utilities, and maybe be able
to take a shower and not smell like I'd just jumped in the city swimming
pool.  Oh, right, I'd be arrested for that, too, since the local utility
holds a monopoly.

Okay, how about roads?  Let's say I wanted to build a road from here to
Austin that didn't have 17 stoplights on it, and I wanted no speed limit
so that I could get to work in a reasonable time, but I also wanted a
special certification required to use it, since folks around here seem to
be able to find a driver's license in a box of cereal, rather than passing
any sort of proficiency test.  I would have to either:

    A) File complaints of tresspass against -every person- who used it
       without my permission (in the monopoly court system, of course).
    B) Not charge a toll, and give everyone explicit permission to use it.

If I didn't, the state would claim to be within its rights to take my road
"for the public good" and use it as they saw fit.  Don't believe me?  It
happened to my grandmother on a private road she maintained.

> Sorry. But I am so tired of those who think that they somehow have a
> right to pretend that their greed over-rides other people establishing a
> community based on a social contract.

I never signed a social contract.  I have, however, paid taxes all my
life.  Whether or not services are provided under threat of force, if I've
paid for them, I believe I have purchased the privilege to use them.  I
would -love- the opportunity to not use them, should that also mean not
paying for them.

Here's what I know.  If set up a charity to help children who were burned
in house fires, and I go door-to-door soliciting donations with a gun, I
need to have my ass locked up.

This is exactly what taxes are.  If you don't pay them, you are threatened
with having your goods stolen, then with jail time, and then, should you
resist that, with a gun in your face.  I don't care what you're selling,
but if you're selling it at the point of a gun, you're a very violent
person, and I don't hold you high regard at all.

> I belong to a nation that has become great because of a social contract

No it hasn't.  This nation has become fat and lazy over the last 50 years
as socialism has continued to triumph over doing honest business
voluntarily.

> that these liber-children want to refuse to honor even as they steal our
> labor value while refusing to pay their fair share.

Sir, what is my "fair share"?  While I attended public school, my parents
paid in taxes more than it would have cost me to attend private school.  I
know, because I attended private school for part of my grade-school
education.  They were unable to afford both the government-mandated school
bill plus the one for the service I actually used.

Today, I pay $450/month in school taxes.  I'm single, I don't have any
children, yet somehow I'm billed for someone else's children to attend
school.  Since -everyone- in the community is paying for these schools
(instead of just those sending children there), wouldn't one expect the
cost per student to be lower than the private schools?

What would be my "fair share"?  The FORTY THOUSAND dollars I paid in
taxes last year, because I finally had some success in my consulting
business?  There wasn't any "social contract" that landed those jobs for
me.  No sir, that was me sitting here in my chair, working 18-hour days,
cranking out code nonstop for about six months.  That was me, producing
mock-ups and prototypes and mailing them out to folks who said "Ooh!  We
want that!"  That was me, taking phone calls from frantic clients in the
middle of the night when I should've been trying to catch a couple hours
sleep.  Nothing I paid for through taxes did anything but inhibit that.

Guess what?  This year I'm barely able to make the mortgage.  If I'd have
been able to put those taxes in the bank, instead, I'd be able to do a lot
more to improve my business so that I'd be able to be a functioning part
of the economy -next- year.  I'd also be able to give to charity like I
did last year (you know, the real social contract, not this fake one that
people associate with government?).  But, oops, that social contract I
didn't sign came back to bite me in the ass.

Who's the freeloader, again?

> If that is what you believe, then fine. Go to some third world sh*t-hole
> that makes Mississippi look like an enlightened nation.

How about this?  I have a farm.  Seriously, I do; it's in Milam County.

On that farm, I have no government water service.

On that farm, I have no government road service.

That farm accepts no government subsidies.

That farm has no government-monopoly electrical or gas service or garbage
service or local police service.

So, surely, I shit in an outhouse, have to park my truck at the nearest
county road and hike two miles to the barn, have trash piled up
everywhere, and use a rainbarrel to catch water, should I need some for
utility reasons, right?

Wrong.  -I- maintain the road.  I order a load of gravel to be put on my
truck, and I get a shovel, and I bust ass.

-I- maintain the water service.  I service the pump, I service the lines,
I service the filters.

-I- pay a private company for electrical service.

-I- run the local garbage service.  I haul off what can be recycle, sell
scrap for a pittance, toss the kitchen waste onto the garden, pay to dump
the hazardous stuff in landfill, and burn the rest.

And the farm turns a profit.  Somehow, without involving any sort of
"social contract".  It's 100% business.  I interact with my service
providers because I chose them, and they get paid because we chose to do
business.  It's a very civilised way of working, and it doesn't require
threatening anyone with the loss of their house.

> But do not ask me or my children to die for them while we are doing our
> national service because they have already said they do not want us to.

I'm not asking anyone to do anything against his or her will.  Indeed,
that is absolutely 100% of my problem with the system we're in.

> Your last post only triggered this rant. I apologize in advance if I
> have misstated your views.

I don't think you've so much misunderstood me views, as you've never
stopped to consider what a world would be like where people paid for what
they want and interact voluntarily.  This nation has tremendous resources
and generous people.  We don't -need- a government using force to rob
people to redistribute wealth.

Some of the wealthiest people in this nation are some of the biggest
philanthropists, and some people, like me, give when we're able to.  If
none of us was placed under the huge burden of paying for this gigantic
government, we'd all have more than enough wealth to spread-around to take
care of folks who don't have enough to get by.

> OTOH, it I have not, then please consider living in another nation as I
> am tired of supporting parasites.

The fundamental law in this nation is a document ratified in 1788 and
amended in 1865 to state that "involuntary servitude, except as a
punishment for crime of where the party have been duly convicted, shall
[not] exist within the United States".  Any man, who MUST work to support
an entity over which he has no control, under threat of theft or violence
is, by definition, subject to involuntary servitude.

Since the system you espouse is diametrically opposed to what is
supposedly the single most fundamental legal document of this nation, I
submit that it is you who should find a different jurisdiction in which to
reside.

> I pay my taxes happily and, guess what?  I'm willing to pay more if my
> children live in a better world as a result. I feel sorry for yours.

Why would you rather pay for services under the threat of force instead
of voluntarily?

I feel sorry for your children.  A man who condones theft from others
because the end result meets with his pleasure must be a scary person to
have for a dad.  I believe that was the principle under which most
organized crime rings operate.

-- 
Jonathan Patschke | "There is more to life than increasing its speed."
Elgin, TX         |                                   --Mahatma Gandhi
USA               |