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[Jim Cook <james_cook AT mindspring.com>]

Phillip Rhodes wrote:
> On 7/16/07, *Jim Cook* <james_cook AT mindspring.com 
> <mailto: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.
Well yes, but ... do you think that as a "sovereign individual" you 
could live in North Carolina and not partake/accept/benefit from 
ANYTHING our local/state/federal government provides? 

And when you write "their rights," how would you define "rights" if not 
for the state?
> 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.
Isn't "the state" an artificial construct designed to facilitate a civil 
society?  As such, doesn't it become the sum of the parts which are "we 
the people"?

And if so, then which is inferior, your obligations to "the state" or 
your right to do your thing?

Part of living in a civilized society is an obligation to work for the 
"greater good."  Here and in many other countries, that obligation is 
fulfilled (partially and often poorly) by a distribution of wealth via 
taxes.  What I mean by voluntary is that those who feel there is no 
obligation to society at large, or that there is a better/different way 
to accomplish that are free to 1) find such a country, or 2) accept it 
as it is while working for change.

TTFN,

-Jim