Stump Lane

SO WE FILED and paid our damn taxes today. Taken through coercion to be spent, in the main, on killing motherfuckers overseas and making interest payments on the vast amount of debt accrued, in the main, through vast amounts of investment in building and maintaining the capacity to kill motherfuckers overseas. Though I disapprove to the greatest extent possible, I also do not relish the idea of incarceration for tax evasion. So we pay.

William Godwin provides a comforting rationalization:

The greatest mischief that can arise in the progress of obedience is, where it shall lead us, in any degree, to depart from the independence of our understanding, a departure which general and unlimited confidence necessarily includes. In this view, the best advice that could be given to a person in a state of subjection is, ‘Comply, where the necessity of the case demands it; but criticise while you comply. Obey the unjust mandates of your governors; for this prudence and a consideration of the common safety may require; but treat them with no false lenity, regard them with no indulgence. Obey; this may be right; but beware of reverence. …’

Criticize while you comply. Blarg! Yes. Join a tea party with a bunch of craven, politically partisan yahoos? Thanks but no thanks. I mean, if we’re going to remain stuck with this massive state, stealing vast amounts of money from the people once a year, I’d rather they spend it on healthcare, social security and such, rather than some kind of bottom-up redistribution/killing motherfuckers scam. Besides, our rulers are unmoved by public protest, or haven’t you noticed?

As a post script, there’s a legal case I learned about once in a 100-level Business Law course I took. Read about it under the cut. Read more…