Do We Have to Be Afraid of Being Shot
In the Detroit Free Press today, I read about A Lobbyist With Integrity. (PDF) Says the lobbyist, about the nature of her post,
Lobbying is just another word for … “What I am is an advocate. And one of the beauties of our form of government … is that … it gives us the right to stand up to our government and say it’s wrong … We don’t have to be afraid of being shot or imprisoned.”
No, but I guess you don’t have to be afraid of being shot or imprisoned, unless you have a disagreement with the government. You may not get shot for voicing dissent, but you’ll certainly be shot if you try to put that dissent into action, even by non-violent resistance. The penalty is always death; this statement is as true as it is hyperbolic. (I find myself repeatedly linking to Mike’s post, because it echoes the exact same thoughts, the same reasoning, as a post that I drafted long ago, but never completed or published. Maybe someday I’ll fine-tune it.)Throughout the ages, governments have been the greatest threat to mankind. Pretending that you’re not in a cage, doesn’t mean that you’re not actually in chains. All government is slavery. The moment one individual desires to exercise his natural right to self-determination, and is denied by the government or the governors, the maxim is proven, since the existence of the government no longer rests on consent.
Taxes are quite capable of enslaving the masses. Telling yourself that you’re not imprisoned doesn’t change the fact that in many ways, you are.
You can “stand up” to your government and say it’s wrong until you’re blue in the face.
But unless you are also permitted to put that belief into action, by refusing to accept its conditions and withdrawing support in whole or in part, all you are is blue in the face.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
About The Author
Thanks for the plug, David. I hope you do revisit the topic. There are many ways to approach the truth there.
I think the notion that ultimately taxation is enforced by the death penalty seriously needs to be examined, because the US, at least, this is a completely specious argument.
By and large, with very rare exceptions that should and even sometime are punished, non-violent resistance does not result in your being shot (tazered, perhaps, but one must admit that at the very least the *intention* is not to kill you).
If you are shot resisting the imposition of some other punishment such as imprisonment, you are shot for violent resistance. You’re not shot for the original crime.
It would be fairer (though less sensationalistic) to say that taxes are enforced with the door of a prison cell.
Violently resisting arrest, on the other hand, can and is sometimes enforced at the point of a gun. Assuming one accepts that police and laws are necessary for *any* purpose, including protecting your rights, I don’t see how that’s avoidable.
You completely flunked the final.
There’s a continuum there, ray. The fact that you’re under arrest is inextricably linked to the original, non-violent protest. At some point, the State or its agents decides to violently arrest and imprison you. The instigator of violence in this scenario is not the tax protester, but those who would arrest him.
[...] left a new comment on an old post, Do We Have to be Afraid of Being Shot: I think the notion that ultimately taxation is enforced by the death penalty seriously needs to [...]