I happily did and it’s been easily one of the best things I’ve ever done. Nothing feels so great as not having to track all your income and expenses and spending hours, days or weeks “filing” your taxes. So, each year around this time I get awakened from my own little bubble in paradise when I see a headline reminding the serfs that it is time to pay their due. This year in the US it is April 17th. In Canada it is April 30th.

SLAVE ON SLAVE ACTION

There is an old joke in Canada that comments on the socialist, slave nature of Canada versus the more entrepreneurial, capitalist nature of Americans. This joke doesn’t apply as much anymore as the US has sunk to Canadian levels… and the Canadians, almost miraculously, have possibly become more capitalistic in some ways now than Americans.

But, the joke as it used to be told was this. A man goes to a seafood shop to buy some crabs. There are two tanks full of crabs. One has a lid on it and the other doesn’t. The customer asks why there is only a lid on one of the tanks. The proprietor explains, the tank with the lid are American crabs. If you don’t put a lid on it they’ll all escape, he explains. And the other, the customer asks? Those are Canadian crabs. If one tries to escape the others will drag it back down with them.

This phenomenon, known as the “crab mentality” is now quite ubiquitous throughout the western world where public education and the government controlled media have made entrepreneurs and successful people out to be the bad guys. Just ask anyone in a drum circle at Occupy Wall Street.

I have dealt with this numerous times in my personal life growing up in Canada. When I first quit my job at a bank to start up an internet company (Stockhouse.com – still Canada’s largest financial website with more than a million users) I got surrounded by old ladies at the bank trying to talk me out of my decision.

“Are you crazy?” they’d say. “You have free dental if you work here!”

In the twenty years since I quit I estimate my total dental costs, especially because I’ve lived in Thailand and Mexico mostly since then, at about $400… mostly in cleanings at $10-25/each. Wow, was that ever a mistake!

And then, nearly ten years ago, when I bid a fond adieu to Canada, many of the local slaves questioned my sanity. “But, if you don’t pay hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in income tax you are giving up your ‘free’ medical care!”

For the record, my total medical care costs in those ten years is probably about $1,000. $100 per year.

This is the slave/crab mentality.

ESCAPE FROM THE WEST

If you can somehow arrange your affairs to make the majority of your income as a contractor or over the internet you can set yourself up to escape the tax game. These are topics we regularly speak about at TDV. Both ways to earn income in non-tax or low-tax countries and also how to get foreign residency and/or citizenship to legally emancipate yourself.

My mentor, Doug Casey, recently stated:

“What is a slave? He’s someone who is deprived by force of the fruits of his labor. Sound familiar? I disapprove of slavery, in any form – including its current form.”

Paying half of your income to government extortion is no different than slavery… unless you actually want to pay it. But, ask yourself, if you weren’t forced at the barrel of a gun to pay taxes, would you voluntarily submit a cheque every year?

Many countries, such as the Dominican Republic (DR), only tax you on income made in the country. So, if you derive no income from the Dominican Republic and you are a DR resident or citizen (something we help many achieve at TDVPassports.com) you can legally set yourself up to pay no taxes… unless you are one of the only truly globally enslaved people, a US citizen. In that case you can still not pay taxes on your first $90,000 (check with your tax slave consultant for details). But almost every other citizen on Earth will not have to pay any income tax. In Paraguay, another place we help emancipate people to, there is no income tax. They’ve been trying to implement it for a few years but the citizenry keeps fighting against it. What a country!

Many other places are also tax-free, like St. Kitts and Dominica. And others, such as Bulgaria, have a 10% flat tax. We can help you achieve status in all of these countries and we are scouring the world for other places… currently we are in Cambodia working on a fast-track residency and citizenship there through official channels.

GIVING UP US CITIZENSHIP

Many people, even some of my most libertarian and freedom minded friends still have trouble with the thought of giving up their US citizenship. This is how deep the brainwashing and belief in the past – when the US was one of the only places to really get ahead – run.

But, here is the way I see it. If we are right and the US continues to devolve into a horrific fascist police state for the foreseeable future then there won’t be the opportunities there like there were in the past. In that case, giving up your citizenship and becoming a citizen elsewhere has great benefit. And the only other thing that can occur, given the financial state of affairs in the US, is that the US Government defaults and instead of being nearly 50% of the US economy it recoils back to a very small government again. In that case, things like Homeland Security, the IRS and the hundreds of three letter agencies all disappear, meaning that the US would revert back to a similar state it was pre-Federal Reserve/Income tax. In this case, you won’t need a “green card” or to be a citizen to live and work in the geographical area known as the US. So, once again, US citizenship won’t be a limiting factor in taking advantage in the wealth of new opportunities in the region.

In either case, giving up your US citizenship is a win-win.

Of course, if you are not a US citizen you are not restricted to the same extent and there is no need to give up your passport… at least, until they devolve and become more like the US, taxing non-resident citizens on worldwide income. In that case, if you already have a second citizenship you can turn on your webcam, light your passport on fire and email the video to them and tell them good riddance.

THE BEST OF TIMES, THE WORST OF TIMES

It is for this reason that we see the current state of affairs as having a lot of opportunity as well as a lot of risk. Never before has it been so easy to internationalize your affairs and escape the oppressive, collectivist dragnets. But, if you don’t, you could find yourself with no options. And now, with places like the US stating in Bill 1813 that even owing the IRS money is reason enough for them to suspend your “privelidge” to travel, and you could be trapped. Like a crab in a tank with a lid on it.

I escaped years ago… and it is one of the best things I’ve ever done. You still have this option… but it won’t be long before western governments realize the “revenue” leakage they are losing by allowing their tax slaves to escape.

Think about this as you file your tax return this year.

Regards,

Jeff Berwick

Time To Pay Your Taxes, Slaves was originally featured on Whiskey and Gunpowder. Visit Laissez Faire Books for the best selection of libertarian book titles.

Americans long ago settled for convenience over freedom: Paved roads and more commercial space per capita than any other nation on earth… to go along with various prohibitions on personal behavior, expanded domestic spying by police, the TSA and the biggest prison population per capita in the world.

Why be concerned with the prison population? Because the state is caging a lot of people who have neither killed, nor raped nor stolen. According to Wikipedia:

Perhaps the single greatest force behind the growth of the prison population has been the national “war on drugs.” The number of incarcerated drug offenders has increased twelvefold since 1980. In 2000, 22 percent of those in federal and state prisons were convicted on drug charges.

But don’t drugs get to the enduser by criminal means that often involve violent cartel conflict somewhere along the line? Absolutely, but only because the state makes drugs illegal, resulting in extralegal black markets. The state says it’s for own good, but we can’t help but notice that it also serves to increase the power of the state to monitor and to police.

It’s bad enough that inflation-fueled nationalizations have become the norm in the U.S., that the government crowds out real job growth by stifling small business while bailing out failed big ones.

But what about the other legal indignities, all the other ways the authorities remind you that you and your property aren’t really yours?

Why can’t we drink on the sidewalk? Or smoke in bars? They manage to do it in other parts of the world without civilization collapsing around their ears…or even an increase in violence or cancer rates!

In Acapulco at night the streets are crowded both with parents, their young children, the elderly and tipsy young men holding bottles of Corona. It is lively but peace reigns. Perhaps people are just nicer when they aren’t constantly stressed out by being over-regulated.

People smoke in restaurants and as long as the air is circulating, no one else seems to be bothered.

Since 2006 it has been legal to possess varying amounts of “hard” drugs for personal use–though, comically, selling these drugs technically remains illegal.

Prostitution is also technically illegal, but pretty open. Every strip club doubles as a bordello, and of course there are the actual bordellos!

A mark of true civilization is civility. The people peacefully seeking their own enjoyment are able to mingle with people raising their families, all without discomfort or conflict. Sure their officials are all probably to a one thieving criminals–this is still Latin America–but the people of Acapulco themselves live blissfully free of the state’s heavy handed interference in their personal goings-about.

“All well and good for the rest of the world,” says the American conservative who claims to love “freedom” (as long as it’s done his way), “but I don’t want to be surrounded by drug use and prostitution!”

But, dear conservative control freak, you already are! This stuff goes on all around you anyway. It’s probably going on in at least one house within a couple miles of yours as you read this. And it manages not to bother you because it really isn’t any more your business than other habits and pleasures your neighbors may have.

No amount of “war” on the arbitrarily declared vice crimes (alcohol is okay, but marijuana is not?) by the state with your blessing will end practices you don’t like…unless maybe you turn the joint into a theocratic tyranny of the Middle East variety.

Criminalization just drives the behavior underground while giving the state the authority to regulate more and to seize property and cage any of us in an effort to fight “wars” against personal practices. Such laws are just prejudices backed by guns.

And in the U.S. we get it with both barrels, both financial and personal interference a la the state. They overtax us, steal from us by means of inflation and then tell us what we can do with willing partners and with ourselves. The liberals cheer on the seizure of property for redistribution while the conservatives cheer the government’s ownership of our bodies.

Yet Americans are still convinced that they love freedom. Personally we scarcely know anyone in the States who has a clue what that particular word means. And most of that small number who do are heading for the exits so they can experience it.

When they leave they leave the white, white world of Western Civilization entirely. They head for Asia…or Latin America. The latter seems to be especially popular.

Maybe it’s something just basic to the essence of the West. It’s the West after all that prides itself on being the birthplace of democracy. As if that’s something to crow about! Democracy is just a system of mass mutual slavery. Everybody owns everybody else and this power of ownership is represented by the vote. Woe be to the people–and their property–in the minority group when it’s time to count those votes.

Maybe it’s genetic. The typical American comes from European stock and though he reflexively yells “liberty” and “freedom”, he has a hard time letting go of slavery. He stopped thrusting it on imported Africans, but seemed to miss it so much that he started inflicting it on himself and his kin.

He enslaves the unborn to debt, the worker to the unproductive, the hedonist to the moralist, and so on.

Yet it’s this same set of hypocrites who gave us a higher standard of living due to technological innovation in robust free markets. It was their European ancestors who gave the world most of the advances in the hard sciences in the first place.

We’re not entirely sure what to make of it. It warrants further consideration. We suspect this would best be undertaken on beach somewhere south of the U.S. border.

Regards,

Gary Gibson
Managing editor, Whiskey & Gunpowder

Slavery, A First World Tendency was originally featured on Whiskey and Gunpowder. Visit Laissez Faire Books for the best selection of libertarian book titles.

…

The broadest and most prevalent error requires the most disinterested virtue to sustain it. The slight reproach to which the virtue of patriotism is commonly liable, the noble are most likely to incur. Those who, while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform. Some are petitioning the State to dissolve the Union, to disregard the requisitions of the President. Why do they not dissolve it themselves—-the union between themselves and the State—-and refuse to pay their quota into its treasury? Do not they stand in same relation to the State that the State does to the Union? And have not the same reasons prevented the State from resisting the Union which have prevented them from resisting the State?

…

Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once? Men, generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them. They think that, if they should resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not encourage its citizens to put out its faults, and do better than it would have them? Why does it always crucify Christ and excommunicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels?

…

If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth—certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.

…

Thus the state never intentionally confronts a man’s sense, intellectual or moral, but only his body, his senses. It is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength. I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest. What force has a multitude? They only can force me who obey a higher law than I. They force me to become like themselves. I do not hear of men being forced to live this way or that by masses of men. What sort of life were that to live? When I meet a government which says to me, “Your money or your life,” why should I be in haste to give it my money? It may be in a great strait, and not know what to do: I cannot help that. It must help itself; do as I do. It is not worth the while to snivel about it. I am not responsible for the successful working of the machinery of society. I am not the son of the engineer. I perceive that, when an acorn and a chestnut fall side by side, the one does not remain inert to make way for the other, but both obey their own laws, and spring and grow and flourish as best they can, till one, perchance, overshadows and destroys the other. If a plant cannot live according to nature, it dies; and so a man.

…

The authority of government, even such as I am willing to submit to—for I will cheerfully obey those who know and can do better than I, and in many things even those who neither know nor can do so well—is still an impure one: to be strictly just, it must have the sanction and consent of the governed. It can have no pure right over my person and property but what I concede to it. The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual. Even the Chinese philosopher was wise enough to regard the individual as the basis of the empire. Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man? There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly. I please myself with imagining a State at last which can afford to be just to all men, and to treat the individual with respect as a neighbor; which even would not think it inconsistent with its own repose if a few were to lie aloof from it, not meddling with it, nor embraced by it, who fulfilled all the duties of neighbors and fellow men. A State which bore this kind of fruit, and suffered it to drop off as fast as it ripened, would prepare the way for a still more perfect and glorious State, which I have also imagined, but not yet anywhere seen.

— Henry David Thoreau

January 1, 2010

Government, Slavery and the State was originally featured on Whiskey and Gunpowder. Visit Laissez Faire Books for the best selection of libertarian book titles.

Woohoo…some of us have been talking about it since 1840.

I haven’t read the piece yet, not wanting to be influenced by another writer before I see what I have to say. Signature chuckle…well, how do I know what that is? I haven’t written it, yet.

That only sounds like an odd thing to say; it isn’t. That is how our minds work, you know: we dump information in the hopper, our brains process the data, and then we have to get the results out either through writing or speaking. “Thinking” is the act of imposing order on facts, of deducing connections, of correlating interlocking facets, of discerning order and patterns. Thinking is similar to using a washing machine: first you put in water, detergent, and dirty clothes. Close the lid and turn the machine on. Go away for a while. Sure enough, in general when you return the device has cleaned your clothing, but it isn’t anywhere near ready to wear. You have to get it out of the cavity and process items further by drying and then folding and putting away. Only then do you have fresh, clean jeans to wear.

What I think about secession basically is that it is a consummation devoutly to be wished, but a dangerous pursuit to advocate publicly. Janet Napolitano and the alphabet soup guys do not take kindly to the notion of freedom in any way, and for the precise reason that Abraham Lincoln did not. When asked why he didn’t just let the South go, Lincoln exploded in a rage, “Let the South go? LET THE SOUTH GO? How, then, should I fill my coffers?”

Documented historical fact. Look it up for yourselves. Winners write history and the North/Leftists have had nearly 160 years to spin their propaganda, but the fact is that the South was the wealthy portion of the country back then. Cotton was, indeed, king, the Feds had gotten themselves into monetary trouble, and bankruptcy was imminent! The back room Congressional brawls were over whether to declare the USA closed at the Mississippi and raise taxes, or to hit tariffs even harder to benefit their factories and shipping businesses, improving their bottom lines and increasing tax revenues. Greed and tariffs won. Hit the South for the enrichment of the North. Hit those who produced cane, corn, and cotton for the benefit of those who consumed and controlled shipping and rail transport and to increase federal control.

We are still disagreeing over the same issues, although the team names have changed. The War for Southern Independence (aka “The War of Northern Aggression” on our side and “The War of the Rebellion” on the other) was about financial matters and the proper role of government. The Southern states had been sold a bill of goods that they were going to get something similar to the original Articles of Confederation before the Constitution and still expected that. Th’ Yankees, for simple terminology, have mocked “States’ Rights” deliberately and consistently as a giant joke since who flung th’ chunk, but it isn’t and they know it quite well. It is a grave issue of utmost importance to those of us who wish to be responsible for our own behavior and neither beholden to any government anywhere nor raped for the benefit of those who outvote us.

The war was and is about freedom and money, what else? Slavery was a distraction, an attempt to pretty up the naked aggression of the North, long after the war was started by firing on Ft. Sumter, and Lincoln never freed a single slave. His famous proclamation applied only to slaves in territory he did not control; it certainly did not free slaves in the North. Yes, the Northerners had slaves, too, and Yankee ship captains were the ones who plied the slave trade. Not one Southern ship was ever a blackbirder.

Lincoln was looking for spin and a highly-emotional issue to cloak his behavior. He was a despicable man, the original Illinois super politician.

The South was in a manpower bind, with every free man already working, and was phasing out slavery as rapidly as possible, should this issue still disturb you. Slave labor is the most expensive, least effective solution to a problem, but until machinery was invented to pick cotton and process cane, the South had no other choice save not remaining in business.  Slaves have to be fed, housed, clothed, purchased, and provided with medical care, and then someone has to stand around constantly to get any sort of work at all out of them. Slavery is wildly uneconomical, and sharecropping isn’t much better in terms of Return On Investment. Southerners came from different portions of the British Empire; the North was settled by small shopkeepers and religious zealots, while the richer land and more hospitable climate of the South drew those who live on and in harmony with the land, particularly those from Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.

If you’re still dubious, here are some facts: 70% of all Southerners never owned a single slave. Slaves were very expensive; a prime field hand cost $2,000, making him at least a Maseratti. A trained ladies’ maid or butler was even more. Sure, you could abuse a slave because you owned him, but how many people would? Do you key your car and take a baseball bat to the windshield just because you can (so long as you do not file an insurance claim?) Normal people don’t. Free blacks who owned slaves were more likely to do so, historically. Yankee overseers weren’t always nice, either, abusing the workers occasionally in an attempt to exceed production quotos.  Even so, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was sheer, sentimental, sensationalist hogwash.

27% of those in the South never owned more than two slaves. Slaves were a luxury in a land where it was all but impossible to hire a maid or a farm hand.

Only 3% ever owned three or more slaves, and no, neither Gone with the Wind nor Mandingo were at all true to life. Yes, there were a very few stereotypical antebellum mansions, just as there are a very few of those who own ski lodges in Vail and summer places on Martha’s Vineyard, and buy ambassadorships and $540 Lanvin tennis shoes.

The BIG question is…why did the Southerners resist so fiercely? Would you go fight and die for Nancy Pelosi’s power when there is nothing in it for you? Would you fight to maintain Al Gore’s lifestyle? Would you go into battle to ensure that Michelle Obama can have ten thousand dollar purses? What stupid questions. Of course not.

The South fought for what it believed, which was that we were free and independent states entitled, in writing, to withdraw from the “union” whenever we wished, and to govern ourselves as we see fit. That we saw no reason to be impoverished for the benefit of shipbuilders, bankers, and politicians. That all we wanted was to be left in peace instead of being robbed and attacked. That Yankees are crazy and our totally different lifestyle is vastly superior…and we haven’t changed our minds.

Once again, the issue was and is redistribution of wealth and unbridled governmental control. I wrote recently about the enormous tariff Obama slapped on tire imports. 5,000 tire workers lost their jobs when several manufacturers of low-end tires could not compete with China, which holds about 15% of the market. Well, Statists can’t have that! 5,000 voters and union favor are clearly more important than affordable tires for most of us. The tariff was raised from 4.7% to nearly 40%, and the cheapest tire (not counting one of those ridiculous donuts) in WalMart went immediately from $49 to $125. Did this reopen the tire plants or create 5,000 jobs to replace those that could not compete in a faintly free market? No, of course not. It did not, and will not, create a single job. It did become another enormous tax on the American driving public. “Oddly” enough, only enormous tires for 18-wheelers are exempt, leading one to suppose that Jimmy Hoffa, Jr., still has a bit of influence.

A tariff IS a tax, a way of transferring wealth.  It targets the many for the wealth of a few. It is monopolistic in nature. By hobbling Chinese imports, American manufacturers are not obliged to practice competitive business policies. Their market is protected at the expense of the customer. Mind, I haven’t really any problem with monopolies, which are self-correcting in a free market. Goodyear (or whoever) couldn’t compete at the low end, and China snagged 15% of the market. If US manufacturers want the low-end market back, they need to produce better tires at the same prices or cheaper similar tires than China can.

My preliminary thoughts on secession, then, are that we should understand what we want and how we can get it. Do many really care whether or not Hawaii, for example, becomes a free nation again? Sure, some few Romantics do, but for all practical purposes Hawaii has belonged to Japanese Democrats most of my life. The Hawaiians of the blood royal have a very good point: the US wrested the throne from Queen Liliuokalani. Beats me why they want it back, but it sounds fair to me.

What we had better care about is whether or not the massive Federal government continues to grow unchecked and ever more rapacious and dictatorial. It makes me very nervous when new laws make it impossible for us to leave the country without proper documentation! Shades of the Berlin Wall. Canada and Mexico make no such demands; Washington D.C. does. Do you deal well with something called a “trusted traveler” document? I don’t. How about “no fly” lists that forbid you to get on an aircraft going anyplace? Not healthy, people. Not all Gulags are in northern Russia. A gulag is a state of mind and overwhelming force, not a matter of location.

RFID-chipping animals, machinery, clothing, and humans is to increase government surveillance, identification, and control. One problem in Iraq and Afghanistan, as it was in Viet Nam, is that the “insurgents” blend into the rest of the population. Be very wary of the national “driver’s license” which functions as an identifying document and must be carried on your person. Eye askance the “traffic cameras” which are springing up, for they are meant to track vehicles, read those drivers’ licenses, and allow your every move to be monitored.

Big Brother watches us more every day, controls more of our lives, and is backing us into corners where we can neither flee nor supply our own needs through our own efforts. The Food “Safety” Bill will make it illegal to use any save genetically-modified seeds from Monsanto (dangerous and do not propagate from what you grow), allow the government to know where every head of cattle and chicken is, and make it possible to locate every bite of food so that it can be confiscated at federal whim. It turns possessing raw milk out of your goat and the chicken you killed for dinner into crimes.

Taxing us at rates over fifty percent is unacceptable, but controlling the food supply is intolerable. Gun confiscation became far closer by a proposed “simple” tax of $50/year on each gun, something that need not even be voted on by Congress, since it is presented as “an IRS issue.” In order to take our guns, first they have to know where they are. As the founding father said, “Fear the government that fears your guns.”

Fear the government that has changed from the most basic of “thou shalt nots” to incessant meddling with every aspect of our lives, and holds that we are cows to be stripped for personal gain and to buy votes. King John is back on the throne, and in this version he does not have a brother named Richard, off fighting in the Holy Land. Robin Hood is a crony of the Sheriff of Nottingham. A successful secessionist movement that established a smaller truly independent nation with time to undo the harm of the past would be a start…but would Washington let the people go? I don’t think so.

Regards,
Linda Brady Traynham

November 17, 2009

What Can We Learn from 1860? was originally featured on Whiskey and Gunpowder. Visit Laissez Faire Books for the best selection of libertarian book titles.

As a child, the situation is necessary. However, as a child, it never occurred to us that we were paying a price for this state of affairs. It was a necessary price, but a price nonetheless. The price was obedience and loss of freedom (actually, not a “loss”, since we never had it). You cannot have someone feed you without expecting them to determine what food you eat. You cannot have someone heal you without expecting them to determine the medication (or doctor/method) used. You cannot have someone provide you with a bed, without expecting them to determine the type, size, and place of that bed (home). The clothes they buy you are the clothes THEY buy you—THEY have the final say. If “they” are paying the bills, YOU must pay “the piper”.

As we grow older, we take on more responsibility. We get a job and support ourselves, giving up the security of the home for the independence and freedom of adulthood. We buy our own food and cook it. Some of us get food stamps—and that limits what we can buy for food. We pay for our medical attention. Some of us seek government aid—and we are limited to what doctors we can patronize. We get our own housing and pay our own rent. Some of us seek government assistance—and we are limited to the types of housing we can obtain and the amount of rent we can pay.

It is said that the “government must provide a ‘safety net’ for the citizens”. To my way of thinking, the purpose of a safety net is to protect someone from harm that is doing something they shouldn’t be attempting; and allows the attempt of just all kinds of stupid deeds and inappropriate, unsuitable behavior. One must wonder if the citizens would save for their own retirement if Social Security were not available. One must wonder if the citizens would save for periods of unemployment if unemployment insurance were not available. Does the availability of “Small Business Loans” (which do not have to be repaid if the business goes bankrupt) allow people to go into business rather cavalierly without raising their own money and thus almost guarantee failure? With no penalty for failure, do they not limit the effort put forth? Does the student in high school not worry about saving for college because of the availability of student loans? Does our present illegitimacy rate stem from the “safety net” of welfare?

I wonder if the wish for a government “safety net” is just a longing for the childhood security we remember so fondly. Is it a desire for “mommy” and “daddy” to comfort us and protect us from the consequences of our own behavior and “make things better” as only parents can do. Is it to take the place of our parents and take care of and support us so we don’t have to suffer the responsibilities of adulthood and the consequences of our actions? Is the present trend toward “children” staying at home until the mid or late twenties indicative of something other than economics?

I hope not, because one must remember the OTHER aspects of childhood. Being told when and what to eat; where and when to go; when to come home; who you can and cannot see; what chores you must do and when you must do them; what to wear; what you must NOT do; where you must not go. Remember hoping someone will GIVE you what you want—perhaps for Christmas or a birthday? That was also a part of childhood. I fear the present desire (perhaps craving) in our population for security and the demands that our government “provide” for the population—everything from bread to disaster relief; from medical care to housing; from “A” to “Z”. The government that will “provide” for us and make us “secure” will also enslave us.

Ben Franklin said, “Those that would give up liberty for security will have neither.” Ben Franklin was correct. Just how “secure” are you if someone ELSE has control over your food, shelter, medical attention, and safety? Do you dare to challenge that “person”?

The left has said that “the people” believe in God as a replacement for their father. It is comforting to believe that there is “someone” who knows everything and looks out for you. They say that there appears to be an innate need for humans to believe this, but it simply isn’t a true belief. There is no God. I cannot dispute the left. I do not know if they are correct or not. On the other hand, it is transparently obvious to ME that the left has simply substituted “government” for “God”.

AFTERWORD

I am haunted by the specter of the people on that overpass during hurricane Katrina. They stood there and waited for help. It never occurred to them to help themselves by walking north. When no help was forthcoming, they began to chant, “We want help. We want help. We want help.” It was very clear to ME that they perceived that the way to get help was to “demonstrate” and demand it—to create a disturbance until someone took notice of them and helped them so they would be silent. It was so similar to a child throwing a tantrum that no imagination was needed to draw the parallel. It was clear that they were going to stand there and scream until “daddy” (government) came along and solved their problem. It never dawned upon them that no one was withholding help, there was simply no help to give. What have the “safety nets” done TO our population, not FOR our population? May God help us. We are clearly incapable of helping ourselves—like a papoose that has been carried to long, we cannot walk.

It is an interesting observation that in shielding our citizens from the consequences of their own actions, we have provided “mercy”—and cheated justice.

Regards,
Anthony De Maio

September 28, 2009

Safety Net: The Path to Slavery was originally featured on Whiskey and Gunpowder. Visit Laissez Faire Books for the best selection of libertarian book titles.

How about slavery?  Suppose one of your friends began to argue in earnest that slavery was not only beneficial in history because the nations of the west were built on free labor from whipped African backs, but that the nations of the world need to return to a slave economy.  If it’s the only political position they will entertain, would you continue to be their friend?

But suppose to justify the slavery this person said things like, “these people simply cannot take care of themselves,” “they’re far too simple and stupid to live free,” and “they need to be protected from the world and their own bad behavior.”  Could you see how they might have a point?

Suppose this person said the slaves would be allowed to choose their masters and the work they did to serve those masters.  It might be a bit arduous and complicated for the slaves to change their positions, or it may be made simpler with bribes and favors.  But either way the slaves may not work if they don’t have a master’s even hand to guide them.  And if they work for themselves, their most recent master may hunt them down and force them to work for him or even kill them if they resist.  Would that convince you to believe in the righteousness of this person’s plan?

Suppose that the slaves this person wants to create were allowed by their master to keep as much as half of what they earned after all accounts with the master were settled—perhaps they could keep as much as three quarters if they weren’t able to earn much—Instead of just the shacks and rags and vegetable patches that were the bulk of the possessions of slaves in the US of old.  And suppose also the slaves were allowed to trade what they were allowed to keep with other slaves in ways approved of by the masters.  Would you accept their position as reasonable then?

Suppose this person insisted everybody—both you and he included—should be enslaved this way.  And suppose instead of “slaves” this person says these people should be called “citizens,” that the nations of the world may be their masters, and that most of the rest of the people in the world have already submitted to this position.  Would that make the enslavement they propose tolerable?

Regards,
Chris Hitzroth

May 21, 2009

Political Intolerance was originally featured on Whiskey and Gunpowder. Visit Laissez Faire Books for the best selection of libertarian book titles.