Establishment Rats Eat Themselves: Time Magazine Advocates Taxpayer Revolt!

Comments

Paul's picture

What's not to like about this?

Samarami's picture

Absolutely. There's a lot to like.

Let's all cease submitting confessions ("filing returns" ha ha) to the beast in that form that creates the illusion of "self-assessment" for absolute and abject robbery. I didn't vote for Trump, so I rightly qualify for membership in that group who should definitely cease "voluntary" submission of confessions ("compliance"). Unless you voted for Trump, you also qualify.

Well, even if you did vote for Trump, you could start doing your share to expose the buffoonery that they like to label "voluntary compliance" if you let "them" (whoever "they" are) come after you in order for them to extract the tribute they like to call "tax" -- rather than docilely "taxing yourself" to make it appear that robbery is just a duty for which we should all be "in compliance".

Think what an improvement it would be to "...the system..." if everyone who did not vote for Trump would join that group -- everyone -- immediately. It wouldn't stop the robbery, but it would call attention to the farce of "voluntary-self-assessment" for theft.

Voluntary compliance is an amazing phenomenon. Sam

Jim Davies's picture

The alleged obligation to pay taxes has no connection to whether or not the victim voted, or for whom, and confers on him or her no privilege or right. There is no contract. It's just brute force; pay, or die.  The best that might be said of tax is that it's a fee, to keep you alive and out of jail; but not even that is true.
 
Question, Sam; and don't feel obliged to reply if you prefer not. Big Brother is watching, and you are fully entitled to privacy. But I'm curious; you often write here that you are "already free" and sovereign, or words to that effect. So do you, in fact, comply and pay taxes?  If so, and do that against your will, might you consider modifying your claim to be free now?
 
 
 
 

Samarami's picture
    "...So do you, in fact, comply and pay taxes?..."

I pay no income tax. I'll say one good thing for you, Jim: you didn't ask, "...do you pay 'your' taxes?..." Far too many libertarian writers engage in what the late Delmar England called "The Lies of Language -- the psychology of oppression". As the result, I suspect, many never fully climb away from "...fear-of-big-brother-watching..." That minuscule possessive pronoun "your" in the lament about taxes is the difference between freedom and serfdom.

A goodly sum in the form of fictitious "money" is robbed from me each year -- none through "voluntary compliance". Last time I submitted a confession ("filed-a-return") for the purpose of my voluntary rape was 1977 Gregorian. In the 10 or so years after I ceased wilful compliance I was embroiled in several legal annoyances -- including divorce from the mother of my 7 children.

The late Irwin Schiff helped me a number of times through that period. Irwin's problem was that he never gave up hope that the brainless abstraction we like to call "government" might eventually serve a socially useful purpose. If the "bad hombres" would just come to see the error of their ways and do government "like it was intended to be done" things might turn around. And Irwin Schiff, of course, would be instrumental in that turn-around. Not.

Ever now and again I pay tribute to avoid being kidnapped and robbed.

Like the price of a good pair of boots to maneuver snake-infested woods, tribute is the price of walking to and fro in an unfree world filled with voluntary-compliers. It's not the tyrants who are the threat to freedom -- they are the natural outcropping of voluntary compliance.

I have learned to be(come) free in an unfree world.

And that's not a claim, Jim. Sam

Jim Davies's picture

No question about your courage, Sam, nor about the very great benefit of knowing that by right, you and I are sovereign over our own lives, not mere pawns at others' disposal. That is the theme for example of para (a) in TOLFA's Benefits page.
 
I was asking, rather, how you or anyone could validly claim to be free now in practice, prior to the elimination of government.
 
From what you say, your brave contest with the IRS has cost you a wife, plus "legal annoyances", and some "tribute now and again" as an alternative to being robbed. Factors like those are the ones I suggest make the difference between freedom and domination in practice. They are heavy costs.
 
Your remarks about Irwin are accurate. In case you haven't already seen them, here are some photos of his resting place.

Samarami's picture
    "...I was asking, rather, how you or anyone could validly claim to be free now in practice, prior to the elimination of government..."

Dilemma: How does one respond to a friend who insists that you ("I") are not free??? Or that your ("my") declaration of freedom is merely a "claim"??? (With questionable validity)

You don't. That's how you respond.

Because no matter how you do respond, you will be challenged. Not that I shy away from challenges -- that's not the point. It's just that there are some who are right, and others who are wrong, no matter what. Philosophically speaking. You and I come from different parts of town. Again, philosophically speaking. I like to think that I accept reality. And that you may not. Would it be remunerable for me to attempt to convince you of that??? Hardly.

Could I be wrong? I thought I was wrong once. But later discovered my error. OK -- don't laugh at my crude jokes.

That off my chest, I'll merely repeat what you've heard from me before. In order for me to live freely (in a sovereign state) I've had to acquire and embrace serenity. This concept has been visualized as having serenity to accept things I cannot change, courage to change things that I can change, and wisdom to know the difference.

I don't believe I can through my own wisdom and/or eloquence relieve any large plurality of people of their apparent cravings to be ruled by others. You believe that you can.
So did Irwin Schiff. Irwin, sorry to say, was in the process of painting a large target upon his back during the 1970's when he and I spent hours in long distance phone calls (expensive before cellphones) trying to fend off the beast at my door.

The internet appears to be doing what neither you nor I nor Irwin could accomplish -- if Trump, Brexit, and now Renzi are any indication. A fun time, indeed, to be alive. Sam

Jim Davies's picture

Serenity is fine. In your case it is well based; you and I know that by right, we are owners of our own lives. That realization is enormously liberating, and we share it. No disagreement, so far.
 
But my sugestion that you are "not free" is not merely my opinion, even though what you wrote seems to imply you think that's the case. I have in this very exchange presented hard evidence to support that opinion; you have been dominated, with the sad result that you lost your wife, and are by your own admission losing part of your property as "tribute" and part of your time in fending off legal annoyances etc. Fact, Sam: to those extents are least you are not free. Admit it!
 
You and I never will be, until the dominators - the governors, the State - no longer exist. Now, it may be argued that it's impossible to eliminate them (I disagree) but surely it cannot be argued that full freedom in practice is impossible until they vanish?

Samarami's picture

You're right, Jim. You and I really have no major disagreements regarding "rights", "freedom", "rulership" et al. It's merely focus and the arrangement of words that often separate us.

My focus is upon voluntary compliance to the oppressor. Your focus appears to center upon the oppressor herself; who (to me --and to Étienne de La Boétie nearly 5 centuries ago) is merely the natural consequence of voluntary compliance. But your TOLFA endeavor indicates we're indeed and inarguably in the same arena with each other philosophically. Because neither of us would disagree that the evil beast, "government" ("the-state", "'our' great nation", "'our' leaders") can only exist within a culture of voluntary servitude.

My emphasis is that I must not (nor should you, I presume) spend precious time and emotional energy flailing away at something in which I have absolutely no control. I can put forth my best effort to set the example for liberty and freedom. I can encourage my neighbors, family and friends to abstain from beans. But I can't set them free.

I can lead a horse to water -- and, if s/he's thirsty s/he will drink. I might can have some minuscule effect on the level of thirst, but not a lot -- not enough to become emotionally distraught over.

My emphasis also surrounds the way I process the stuff between my ears. If I think in terms of servitude, it's likely I'll experience much more difficulty side-stepping and escaping the beast. Oh, I know the argument: the beast is still the beast no matter HOW I "think". And I sometimes get the feeling that not a few of my libertarian friends rue the day I stumbled across the late Delmar England -- whose primary message over the quest for acquiring liberty was in encouraging me to examine the way I process knowledge. The way I say things in my head.

If I think that a place called "Washington, DC" is a threat to my freedom I may never become free. If I allow myself to understand that it is only a few psychopaths residing in that fair city who can be threats to my freedom I'll probably in time find the solution to circumvent and sidestep them, and be on my way to liberty and freedom.

And, of course, if everybody desires to and learns how to circumvent and sidestep the beast, he will starve and die. The oppressor must be fed to stay alive. Sam

James Clayton's picture

In The Folly of Fools by Robert Trivers he mentions "mafia-like" behavior of cuckoos and cowbirds and suggests that for hosts/victims "It becomes a matter of accepting a degree of parasitism or being really badly treated - like a demand payoff (tax) instead of an outright killing".
Fear of possible consequences is one explanation for "voluntary compliance" when human hosts/victims pay taxes to human parasites.
It would be interesting to see what would happen if 65 million people stopped paying some taxes.

Samarami's picture

After flailing away here and finally coming to the conclusion (as always): "...it's a fun time to be alive..."; and touting "...Trump, Brexit, and now Renzi..." -- it might be prudent for me to give ear to Daily Bell:

    "...Populism is featured throughout this issue of the (Time) magazine and is the defining description of Trump himself.

    But here is a disturbing thought: The bottom line is that globalism must eventually win out if internationalism is to continue to expand.

    This means that populism – and Mr. Trump – must lose in the long-term. There is seemingly no doubt (whether he knows it or not) that new president is embroiled in an unfathomably vast propaganda campaign..."

This referring to an article in Time naming Trump "Man Of the Year" -- and alluding to the distinct probability that this entire Brexit, Trump and European Union phenomenon could be (and quite likely is) a gigantic propaganda effort. That the alleged "powers-that-be" might have pre-arranged this entire charade (including Trump's election) in order to, among numerous other devious actions, plunk down the Global Government card in the end.

To save us all, as usual.

Samarami's picture

One more addendum: When all is said and done I strongly believe I've somehow received an opportunity to live out my life on this pale blue dot -- that houses a human population of nearly 7.5 billion souls -- during a time when monumental changes for the entirety of all human beings could take place. I believe I will live to see, not just philosophical freedom; but, as Mr. Davies has phrased it, freedom in practice. In praxi.

I linked (above) to a "world population clock". Naturally, the call is for global government to "save" the masses. I'm convinced we're witnessing severe fault-lines in that movement.

I have strong hope to live to see free-market solutions instead. I sincerely wish you that moment also. Sam

James Clayton's picture

Sam,
Just to throw in my two cents (well, pennies have been phased out of production up here in this place called "Canada", but if you'll accept credit...) - you might not change the world beyond your own bellybutton but you do provide insightful considerations about this thing called freedom, by patiently challenging and encouraging readers of STR to think about the ways "we" think, speak and act. I enjoy your comments and the links that you provide. Thank you.
James
 

Samarami's picture

Thanks! Sam