hodlbod on Nostr: Can one not pay taxes? Sure, we're coerced to do so, but what's stopping you from ...
Can one not pay taxes? Sure, we're coerced to do so, but what's stopping you from exercising your liberty withhold payment, and face the the consequences? Your acquiescence to their superior power. That willingness to be subservient is a national character thing. If we as a people simply didn't tolerate tyranny, there would be no tyranny.
I had this thought this morning listening to the podcast linked below, where Peter describes the entrepreneurialism of the Taiwanese. They don't tolerate economic repression, and so it isn't implemented. This used to be the case in the US, but certainly isn't anymore, in general we now do all we can to comply with whatever arbitrary rules are assigned.
The state exists at the implicit consent of the governed. I don't mean this in the sense of social contract theory (which is bunk), but because short of a theoretical technology-enforced tyranny, the government is always vulnerable to reform or revolution, however absolute its nominal powers.
The state is also comprised of the governed. This isn't always or completely true, as in foreign occupation or deep class divides, but Sherrifs, IRS agents, bureaucrats, and voters are all members of the nation first, and members of the ruling class second. The character flaws inherent in these people that cause them to consent explicitly to their government are a result of the national character. Russians take bribes, therefore the government rules by bribes. Americans have become lazy and complacent, therefore the government rules by inertia.
This isn't how it has to be, but it is how it is because of the ones with agency — us (whatever historical circumstances we could also blam). Believing in the tenets of anarcho capitalism does not make the described utopia materialize without the courageous and self-sacrificial exercise of personal agency in the situation we currently find ourselves.
Which is why we're on nostr 😉
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chat-81-an-austrian-view-of-us-collapse-with-peter-st-onge/id1359544516?i=1000617796142
I had this thought this morning listening to the podcast linked below, where Peter describes the entrepreneurialism of the Taiwanese. They don't tolerate economic repression, and so it isn't implemented. This used to be the case in the US, but certainly isn't anymore, in general we now do all we can to comply with whatever arbitrary rules are assigned.
The state exists at the implicit consent of the governed. I don't mean this in the sense of social contract theory (which is bunk), but because short of a theoretical technology-enforced tyranny, the government is always vulnerable to reform or revolution, however absolute its nominal powers.
The state is also comprised of the governed. This isn't always or completely true, as in foreign occupation or deep class divides, but Sherrifs, IRS agents, bureaucrats, and voters are all members of the nation first, and members of the ruling class second. The character flaws inherent in these people that cause them to consent explicitly to their government are a result of the national character. Russians take bribes, therefore the government rules by bribes. Americans have become lazy and complacent, therefore the government rules by inertia.
This isn't how it has to be, but it is how it is because of the ones with agency — us (whatever historical circumstances we could also blam). Believing in the tenets of anarcho capitalism does not make the described utopia materialize without the courageous and self-sacrificial exercise of personal agency in the situation we currently find ourselves.
Which is why we're on nostr 😉
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chat-81-an-austrian-view-of-us-collapse-with-peter-st-onge/id1359544516?i=1000617796142