I thought Russell might like this.

[Pat K]

High taxes are more a penalty for becoming rich than for being rich." - James Davidson - co-author of "The Sovereign Individual"

"A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim." - L. Neil Smith

The above two quotes got me thinking.

It's true. If you're trying to get ahead - then tax is the ultimate disincentive and roadblock to your progress. But if, on the other hand, you're already rich - then you can afford all sorts of legal ways to side-step excessive tax, and hence avoid the problem.

So, given that truism, you'd think that all freedom-loving people, with the desire to hang on to their own money and make financial progress, would jump at the chance to avoid tax - and none more so than those self-declared freedom lovers, libertarians.

After all, what better example of the initiation of force could you get than taxation - the forced emptying of your wallet for the benefit of someone else!

I'm a libertarian. And it was through libertarian ideas that I arrived at where I am today - a person determined to lead as free a life as I can create for myself. But I have discovered a strange paradox in libertarian thinking - one that, for a long time, had me completely baffled.

I remember when I first read PT - The Perpetual Traveler by WG Hill. It blew me away. Not because it contained a revolutionary theory or philosophy. And not because it was a literary work of art. It was much more basic than that - it was a practical blueprint for setting oneself free.

All of a sudden, it was as if someone had given me a secret key - a key that would allow me to turn my freedom thinking into freedom action - and allow me to turn my freedom dream into freedom reality.

One of my first thoughts after making this discovery, was, "Wow, this is something all libertarians need to know about - a strategy for making all their freedom beliefs an actuality."

Well, I was soon proven wrong. What I discovered was that perhaps as many as 95% of declared libertarians were not interested in following any direct strategy to remove Big Brother's hand from their wallets.

And when questioning one particular person about this "lack of interest" - I was told that she would much prefer the government simply reduce tax - than have to go to the bother of avoiding it. And to that end, she was more interested in making sure that at some time in the future - a libertarian inspired government would make all this tax avoidance unnecessary.

I've thought about that response a lot, and I've talked about it with other people. And I think I've got to the core of the paradox.

And this is it: most libertarians are wedded to the idea of government as we know it. They are closet statists. They want government to reduce tax, and will expend huge amounts of effort in an attempt to bring this about - via the voting process.

Any direct method of reducing their own tax undermines their mission to bring change about by political means. In other words most libertarians are committed to the political process - just like everybody else. They haven't yet realized that politics as we know it, and democracy in particular, is in its death throes.

I'm not saying this is necessarily willful ignorance, rather the result of conditioned thinking - the very same conditioned thinking I once shared.

In other words - most libertarians still have faith in government, and want to see change brought about by political means - via the ballot box.

This commitment to the political process blinds 95% of libertarians to other, more efficacious, methods of achieving freedom. Which is a pity, because if all those who long for freedom would realize that direct action is the quickest way to bring their dreams to fruition - then millions of man-hours of energy could be redirected from futile attempts to play a rigged political game, to results-driven, practical freedom solutions.

And the mechanism for delivering such solutions will be the market - not politics.

In other words, these libertarians are committed to supporting the very root and foundation of our "unfree" situation. They are both for freedom - and against the best way of achieving it!

Perhaps one of the greatest insights I have gained over the last few years is from a very simple, but profound idea from Andrew J. Galambos (from "Sic Itur Ad Astra" - This is The Way to The Stars). To quote:

"Freedom is not a cause, which means you don't subordinate your pursuit of happiness and your personal ego to something greater than your ego. Instead you look upon your own pursuit of happiness as the ultimate goal, which is the postulate I'm using, the first postulate of this course; then you look upon freedom as a product which you want to see built. You can't build products until you know how to build products. You make products. You don't fight for products, you make products. Have you ever fought an automobile into existence? Do you fight a fluorescent light into existence? Or do you pray for it, or have a cause for it, or do you donate to a charity to get a fluorescent light?"

That, dear readers, is a truly revolutionary idea - and one that inspires a whole new way of thinking about freedom and how to achieve it!

[jaqeboy]

By Jove, I think you've got it! Have you read agorist theory, especially the New Libertarian Manifesto? We should have some copies of it on sale at the Alternatives Expo tables.

[Russell Kanning]

Interesting article
I think that some people are attracted to the power structure .... because they will join it. Those are not libertarians by Smith's definition.

But I think a majority of libertarians ... at least like the ones I meet ... are attracted to politics, instead of outright rebellion to taxes, because the government makes it easier to go that way. People want to be free, but they fear the pain or inconvenience of bucking the system.

Then they cover over that reality by using the words and phrases of the current structure .... like having "freedom" or "rights" inside this republic or democracy or hope to wrap themselves in the protective cover of the constitution. They keep hoping for justice inside an unjust system.

The answer is simple, but the execution is tough. Not cooperating with this evil system is proper and effective, but can be painful.

[Russell Kanning]

The government knows what can bring down their power ... people withholding their support ... and they will do anything to stop you from striking at the root.

[cathleeninnh]

The "best" and easiest path to liberty is with numbers. The problem isn't that most "libertarians" think the political path is best, it is that the vast majority of people think political action is the most effective tool for "progress". That makes an awful lot of pain and misery to those using the "direct path" methodology.

Cathleen

[Russell Kanning]

yea ... the direct method is the best for 1 person .... and lots of people only makes it better.

[FrankChodorov]

The "best" and easiest path to liberty is with numbers. The problem isn't that most "libertarians" think the political path is best, it is that the vast majority of people think political action is the most effective tool for "progress". That makes an awful lot of pain and misery to those using the "direct path" methodology.

funny how those engaged in the political process (minarchists) say exactly the same thing about those not engaged in the political process (anarchist)...huh?

whereas left-anarchists believe that historically anarchism has been about a rejection of all illegitimate authority and thus domination - the state, religion, sexism & yes even capitalism.

whereas left-libertarians believe that the treatment of everything that pre-exists human labor as "unowned" rather than owned in common eventually creates a system of oppression.

[Crocuta]

But are you really free if you've had to totally rearrange your life to avoid and sidestep government involvement in your affairs?

Let me give you an example.  I am a nurse working in emergency.  I love going to work.  I love putting broken people back together again.  I'm actually pretty good at it.  If I were to drop out of the system, I would have to give up what I love, because in our current system, it is impossible for me to do what I love without being registered by the state and employed at a facility that reports my earnings to the IRS.  If I quit doing this at this point in my life, I'd be miserable and not really free because I'd be forced to do something that I loved less just to keep eating.

Tell me what the difference between being an actual prisoner and being a prisoner by fiat is.  Tell me how I can be free to do what I love and be actually free and you'll have me hooked.  I don't know the answer.

So, I'm left with working within the system to try and reform it.

[FrankChodorov]

I'm left with working within the system to try and reform it.

freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose...

[ninetales1234]

And this is it: most libertarians are wedded to the idea of government as we know it. They are closet statists

This is an impediment to the libertarian movement. Too many of them are insulting each other like this.
Remember Harry Browne (who supported eliminating the income tax and replacing it with nothing) who said he would not place his foot forward to trip the "eliminate federal income tax and replace it with federal sales tax" people, as they were walking in the same direction. I understand what you're saying, but what do you want to accomplish with name-calling?

It's like libertarians are a bunch of chidren, and we need someone to look over us and tell us to be nice to each other. LOL

They want government to reduce tax, and will expend huge amounts of effort in an attempt to bring this about - via the voting process.

So what do you want us to do? Pick up our weapons and engage in armed conflict with government officials/agents right now? I assume you're not.

What we need to do is to get people to stop recognizing the legitimacy of a bad government. We need an incredibly large number of people to open their mailboxes, look at the tax papers they received and happily say, "Government? What's that? They have no control over me! Tax? What tax?", as they matter of fact-ly drop it in the trash. I believe this is what you're getting at, is that we have to persuade people to stop caving into gov't, and if they do, the gov't orders will have no effect. But can't we run for office, and persuade people to stop recognizing the legitimacy of a bad gov't? They're not mutually exclusive actions. Harry Browne did it.

This commitment to the political process blinds 95% of libertarians to other, more efficacious, methods of achieving freedom. Which is a pity, because if all those who long for freedom would realize that direct action is the quickest way to bring their dreams to fruition - then millions of man-hours of energy could be redirected from futile attempts to play a rigged political game, to results-driven, practical freedom solutions.

I agree, and we need more things like this tax resistance.

[Russell Kanning]

Tell me how I can be free to do what I love and be actually free and you'll have me hooked.

Fix people outside of the system. Sometimes people drop out of the system and make their own (Francis of Assisi).
The really important thing is to not cooperate with the bad guys, while you try to do good (taxes).
Would you like it if I funded a group of thugs who liked to throw you in jail every once in a while? If not ... then don't do it to me please.

[Russell Kanning]

So what do you want us to do?

But can't we run for office, and persuade people to stop recognizing the legitimacy of a bad gov't? They're not mutually exclusive actions. Harry Browne did it.

I agree, and we need more things like this tax resistance.

You are arguing with an author who is not on this forum.

I do not think we can run for office and also act like the government is illegitimate.

Since the people in Nashua are probably unwilling to just not pay the property taxes .... their resistance can only take them so far.