Quote:
Originally Posted by Tecmos Deception
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When has a government ever ruled through genuine, explicit consent of the governed? When have taxes been voluntary or non-existent? What state has existed without being destroyed by a war or engaging in war?
Governments are force.
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"Governments are force" is a technically correct but functionally useless statement, it's not an argument and it's not a useful observation.
All governments rule through consent of the governed, Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau exactly as much as Kim Jung Un. It is only through the laziness, ignorance, or apathy of the governed that a government appears tyrannical. Basically any time you are following the rules of the social contract, you are submitting to the authority of government. Humanity traded some individual freedom for some benefits of cooperation and law/order, and you are born into this contract whether you like it or not. Yes, it's force, but that force is merely the enforcement of the contract on behalf of all of society. The same force that forces you to pay taxes also stops a syndicate of lowlives from killing you, raping your wife, and eating your children. The rest of society agreed explicitly or implicitly that those are the terms.
You seem to have some animosity toward being "forced" to contribute but I think your animus is toward the terms of the contract rather than the contract itself, in which case it accomplishes exactly nothing to complain about how government is forcing you to do something. Rather, your issue is with the 'idea' that is supported by enough of society (or enough powerful people) to be a mandate for you. If you don't want to pay taxes, vote Republican and get into a higher tax bracket, or vote libertarian.
If you don't want any social contract at all, too bad, basically. Every group of humans numbering more than 100 or so for the last 100,000 years has formed a contract. Anarchy is proto-human.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tecmos Deception
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Tolstoy, and not you, had it right: "Government is an association of men who do violence to the rest of us."
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Government is an association of men who do violence on behalf of the rest of us.
...would be more accurate.