This is a topic I’m sure I’ll revisit far too much, but it’s very important to me. So is consistency, because I think it’s lacking in a lot of people. Digression: If you have to redefine words, or add specific contexts to make a definition hold up, you have a massive problem with consistency of thought. If you need to tie yourself up in knots, deny reality, and perform Olympic-caliber mental gymnastics to hold your worldview together, it doesn’t indicate an ability to reason with any clarity. You can’t have a clear discussion about a topic if you can’t agree on what your words mean every time you say them, so I try to be as clear and unambiguous as possible.
I do not consent.
I do not consent in any way to our current system. For starters, because they get their money via theft. Yes, I’m one of those “Taxation is Theft” guys; ya know why? CONSISTENCY. If I don’t consent to a mugger stealing from me, whether he’s feeding his kids or a drug habit, then I don’t consent to taxation, whether it be to feed the homeless or bomb people. I didn’t give it; you have no right to take it. Whether or not it’s going to a cause I support or not, I’m the one who should be directing my resources, not anyone else. As an aside, if I choose to designate someone to spend my money, I only have the right to do so FOR ME, not for anyone else. And I can withdraw that consent at any time.
Secondly, you have no idea where your stolen resources are going. The budget is so vast and the financial chicanery is so unbelievably pervasive that I surmise it’d be darned near impossible to track all inflows and outflow for the entire leviathan that is government. It makes it pretty hard to claim that YOUR money is doing good things, and the Other Guys’ money is being spent on the bad things, but it’s a meaningless distinction anyway, since we’re all supporting the system. I personally think that it’s important to know where your money is going, and be able to direct it away from evil, but I guess I’m just naive.
Third, resources extracted via taxation are being used to rob the consent of peaceful people. If you, for example, engaged in a victimless crime (no, there’s no such victim as “society” or “the people” without having a specific, identifiable victim; fight me) and were arrested, tried and convicted, my money helped do that, and I DO NOT CONSENT. I live my life via peaceful interaction with consenting adults, and I don’t think that it’s just that my time and labor are taken away from me and used for evil purposes. And it is most definitely an evil purpose to kidnap people over someone else’s definition of what proper behavior might be whether it’s a paperwork violation, use or possession of a prohibited plant or product, or engaging in “unlicensed commerce”. I’ll get back to the topic of free market policing later, but that would go a long way toward stopping that kind of nonsense.
In conclusion, consent, like choice, should be applied universally, not just to matters of sexual contact in the public discourse. It’s no more right to rob me of the ability to direct my time and resultant resources than it is to hurt or take from me in any other way, in person or via a representative. Voting, popular opinion, “what’s best for everyone”; none of these things matter. If you were taken from your home to be sacrificed to The Greater Good (which in my imagination is an anthropomorphised volcano), does it matter to you if everyone else agreed? Shouldn’t you have veto power? After all, does the community own you or do you own yourself?
