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["Phillip Rhodes" <motley.crue.fan AT gmail.com>]

On 7/16/07, Jim Cook <james_cook AT mindspring.com> wrote:

But can't all taxes in America be viewed as *voluntary*?  (Granted,
some, like the NC EDUCATION Lottery are more so than others...)  People
have the freedom to live here, there, in the country or not.  Isn't
abiding by the rules part of the voluntary price you pay to live here?

I don't accept that personally.  And that's because I don't see "the state" as
having any intrinsic authority or even existence.  If I own some land, say in, oh, North Carolina,
I believe that I - as a sovereign individual - should be able to live there, and do what I want
as long as I don't harm anyone else or violate their rights.  And I believe I should be
able to enter into any mutually consensual contract or agreement with my neighbors
that I want as long as I don't use force or fraud to initiate or coerce anything.


And if myself and 10 of my neighbors are doing our own thing and not hurting anybody, 
why should 299,999,990 other folks be able to say "You live in our Country so you
have to obey these rules and pay these taxes?"  In other words, I consider "The State"
to be an artificial construct, which is necessarily inferior to the Individual.


TTYL,


Phil