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RE: Steemit Exclusive: Every Book I Read in Federal Prison (Charlie Shrem Prison Reading List)
Agree 100%, F. Bastiat "The Law" is definitely a "game changer" & should be required reading for ...well, everyone .. M.Rothbard is key to understanding the philosophy of Austrian economics. Please visit https://mises.org/ for an unparalled education in reasoning and economics.
Funny how so many voluntaryists miss the message about "The Law" solely applying to those who have initiated force. (This is what most of America inconsistently claims to believe in: a government that solely deals with those who initiate force. On the other hand, virtually noone believes in "anarchy," or "the absence of government." They also don't believe that "the absence of government" would be the condition resulting from purely voluntary "taxation.")
From "The Law":
"What, then, is law? It is the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense.
Each of us has a natural right — from God — to defend his person, his liberty, and his property. These are the three basic requirements of life, and the preservation of any one of them is completely dependent upon the preservation of the other two. For what are our faculties but the extension of our individuality? And what is property but an extension of our faculties? If every person has the right to defend even by force — his person, his liberty, and his property, then it follows that a group of men have the right to organize and support a common force to protect these rights constantly. Thus the principle of collective right — its reason for existing, its lawfulness — is based on individual right. And the common force that protects this collective right cannot logically have any other purpose or any other mission than that for which it acts as a substitute. Thus, since an individual cannot lawfully use force against the person, liberty, or property of another individual, then the common force — for the same reason — cannot lawfully be used to destroy the person, liberty, or property of individuals or groups."
Imagine that tomorrow, the government says "Taxation is purely voluntary, there will be no more punishments for tax evasion. Aditionally, the Federal Reserve is now abolished." OK, right away, many, perhaps most, people stop paying their taxes, but a few corporations and others do not. However, a great many people still pay some tax, because they wish the police to come when they call about being "under attack" or to report a sexual assault in progress, etc.
"Voting" is still necessary to properly prioritize that police power away from illegitimate aggression. After all, as the police have shown, if we're not going to follow the Constitution and the common law, they'd prefer to use their badges to steal money and property from motorists.
So, the government is now financed by "voluntary" means, but its activities are not necessarily voluntary. Should non-payers be allowed to vote on how voluntarily-financed government power is used? Yes. Why? Because they are still subject to possible abuses of the police.
Voting is not the enemy, the cybernetic control of every voting node (voting taxpayers) is the enemy. This has been accomplished primarily through the government youth propaganda camps known as "public schools." ..And it can be undone by a coordinated educational campaign.
Now I hate the term "educational campaign" because most libertarians prioritize idiotic things as the priority of such an educational campaign. But a campaign to alter the structure of the government at a deep level back to a voluntary classical liberal government would be a blessing.
I've written about this here, and will write more on it later.