Things will not change, until we stop obeying. We need to stop paying taxes. We need to stop applying for licenses. We need to stop complying. We need to stop fearing government. We need to start living like free people.
I agree with you completely. However, it is easier to say you are an anarcho-capitalist than to live like an anarcho-capitalist.
Devote your energy to solutions.
First of all, I prefer the term “free person” as opposed to “anarcho-capitalist”. We are slaves. Whatever your political philosophy is, we all need to start living like non-slaves, or free people.
Second of all, it is not that it is easier, but that there is less risk. It is extremely easy to live like a free person, you just stop obeying the masters.
Lastly, how is non-compliance not a solution?
This will surely make you free.
I am pretty sure you are being sarcastic. But yes, if there are enough of us that stop obeying, it will make us free.
I was using it as an example. There are plenty of people who will say they are for freedom, but won’t act on it. Don’t be fooled by the number of allies you may think you have. People will say all sorts of things when there is no cost to do so.
I’m not a slave.
Some people may not want to. Some people are happy to be slaves in return for security, nationalism or redistribution.
More semantics.
How will you travel if you are non-compliant? How will you gain access to medicine or medical technology if you are non-compliant. How will you communicate and use the internet if you are non-compliant? Not all of us want to be like Karl Hess. A forgotten martyr.
I’m not saying it isn’t possible. I am saying that non-compliance is easier said than done. I have been trying to decouple from the state. It is a long and tricky process. Just refusing to pay taxes isn’t enough. They still have the guns. They still have the consent of billions.
Fight battles you can win. Win enough battles and you can win the war. Take a long view.
If you obey, then yes you are.
Well then they do not want change. I don’t get your point. I am talking to people that actually want things to change.
And important ones at that.
Move my legs. Drive my car.
Go to the hospital or doctor and pay for the services.
Type.
I have no desire to be a martyr.
I have any where from 1 second to maybe 60 years left on this planet. I do not have time for “enough” battles.
Considering how little ancaps there are, I doubt that this strategy of civil disobedience will do much to promote our cause. In order to win, we must first win the youth and the academe. Spending time in prison doesn’t seem like a way to accomplish that.
Your opponents will always defeat you, because they do not operate with a high time preference. This was a failure during the Paul campaign on RPF. People wanted instant results. They refused to see all of the steps towards the goal.
Then don’t invite violence until you are capable of resisting it.
The problem is you are thinking of this as a “war”. It is not. It is not a fight.
Death is inevitable. Regardless, I think the FreeStateProject.org is the only real option. I don’t know. I am thinking I may threaten my local city council that if they do not give me tax exempt status, that I will try to recruit my “neighbors” into being tax protesters, and not paying their taxes. I am thinking of going around, asking people why they pay taxes. Most will probably answer because the government threatens them if they do not. I would then ask if they would join me in not paying. If they say no, I will ask how many people would need to sign up for them to do it. If they agree to a hundred, then I just have to get a hundred home-owners to agree to that. I think a hundred would be plenty.
If you were a politician competing for a position of e.g. president…
How do you think - would you win an election proclaiming such a policy?
Or let me put it in another way…
If you entered into a church / mosque / synagogue and proclaimed
that God is stupid, inefficient , greedy tyrant and therefore there should be
no God at all, but we should live as free people - without trembling in fear…
What would you gain…?
;-(
I think the best we can do is what we do here on Mises.org forum and the like.
There is no climate for such a revolution as you proposed in any place on earth today.
At least - “civilized” place…
Of course not. I am not trying to win an election though, so I could care less.
What does that have to do with the price of rice in China? I never said anything about calling anything stupid, inefficient, or greedy.
Most people won’t care. As long as they have sports on TV and a beer in hand, they could care less.
Really? Have you tried it already?
The actions you take now may just snuff out an opportunity that arises in the future; nonetheless this act of brainstorming is much more productive than bickering over 9/11 conspiracy bullshit. Leave that to the statists at JREF to obsess over.
So why do you propose to abandon government and all “benefits” that it bestows upon us so “generously”…?
Let me remind you:
“We need to stop paying taxes. We need to stop applying for licenses. We need to stop complying.
We need to stop fearing government. We need to start living like free people.”
Why???
Purely for the virtue of freedom?
Have you ever experienced slavery? Has your human dignity ever been smashed? Have you ever felt that pain?
Or…
Your proposal was just an intellectual playacting?
That would be sad…
I prefer to think that you know well the true virtue of freedom - let me believe in this…
Why do you pay taxes?
Yes. I would rather be free than a slave.
Pretty much everyday.
Government without consent of the governed is slavery. Or do you think “slaves” were always abused, talking about slaves in the classic sense?
Exactly. We need to start taking action. If we can get a hundred people in a city to stop paying their property taxes, what is the city going to do? Incarcerate them? The governments are already bursting at the seems with trying to incarcerate poor people, let alone middle class people.
Not interested in semantic games. Good luck.
Spideynw,
My family actually tried this. We didn’t pay taxes for years and even tried to sue the IRS. My dad almost went the road of Irwin Schiff (Bless his heart). The Gov stepped in and forced us to pay which ultimately lead to bankcrupcy of our home. A year after that my dad got Stage 4 colon cancer. I know I’m stretching it but I think the stress level was part of the reason for the cancer.
At any rate rather then little pockets of 'free people" as you call it revolting I think we could organize a better solution. I say revolting because from their point of view that is how they will look at it.
What if we consolidated into a single geographical region where we could practice our beleifs and have a real influence on the local government. Ultimately with enough pull we could eventually succeed from the system as we know it. We would have much more pull rather then being scattered like freckles across the country and probably generate much more press.