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Thank you. If my seizing my neighbor's extra car because I do not have one is theft, it is still theft if I convince a majority to pass a law take it for me.
by raintrees 10y ago
Thank you. If my seizing my neighbor's extra car because I do not have one is theft, it is still theft if I convince a majority to pass a law take it for me. And it is enforced with the threat of (or actual) violence against my neighbor, if my neighbor refuses.
- EliRivers 10y agoNegative. Theft is a crime. Crime is defined by the criminal law. If you choose to have your own personal criminal law, so that you can call whatever you like theft, that's up to you, but if you're going to do that with language, you can claim anything is anything.
- raintrees 10y agoOkay, we disagree. (*edit: we disagree about taxes being theft). But that is what I enjoy about communicating with other intelligent people, we can discuss ideas and not have to agree. I have been studying this in my free time for the last decade or so, and do not have a ready list of sources handy, but here are a few I gathered in the last 30 minutes, should you be curious as to why I think this way: https://mises.org/library/taxation-robbery https://mises.org/library/taxation-robbery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_as_theft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_as_theft A very short list of sites containing general backgrounders: https://mises.org/ https://mises.org/ http://www.ronpaulcurriculum.com/ http://www.ronpaulcurriculum.com/ http://tomwoods.com/ http://tomwoods.com/ https://www.freemansperspective.com/ https://www.freemansperspective.com/ A short list of sources on this direction of thinking to start with: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Mises https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_von_Mises https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Rothbard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Rothbard Much of this is intertwined in Libertarianism, Austrian Economics, and even Minarchy/Anarchy. I obey the laws of the jurisdiction that I reside in, but that does not mean that I am not trying to actively change those laws for what I perceive as "the better"... I search for as close an approximation to "the best way" as I can, understanding that humans are fallible by nature. For entertainment, I am re-reading the book A Lodging of Wayfaring Men, a fictional book by Paul Rosenberg. While it is in severe need of editing (self-published?) I find it entertaining enough to re-read to get excited/stimulated about the possibilities of correcting systems that I consider to be operating very inefficiently, or flat out wrong.
- briantakita 10y agoTheft is a crime committed by another citizen. Redistribution of wealth is a "social program" committed by the State. See, with language, you can justify anything. One can make anything legal or illegal. It all depends on which Entity is saying those words. That's the nature of political power... "A traitor is everyone who does not agree with me." ---George III of the United Kingdom
- prodmerc 10y agoWell, you can always stop using roads, hospitals, sidewalks, subsidized foods and fuel. Then you can call the tax man a thief and shoot him. Unless you're rich, taxation benefits you, you brainwashed idiot.