"If you disagree with <insert government policy here>, you should run for office"

published Jan 17, 2012, last modified Jun 26, 2013

The absurdity, exposed.

  • Statist: I pay my taxes because I'm a citizen of this country.
    If you disagree with the war, then you should run for Congressman or President and try to stop the war.
  • Me: All right.
    You are against child abuse, right?  You think that people who rape children should be stopped, am I correct?
  • Statist: Yes, of course, child rape is horrible!
  • Me: OK.
    So, would you finance a group dedicated to abusing children?
  • Statist: Of course not!
  • Me: So, if you were giving money to a group that rapes children...
    ...and I said "you really should stop doing that"...
    ...and you replied to me: "I will not stop giving money to child rapists, and if you have a problem with this, you should try to infiltrate this group, take control of it, and somehow stop it from raping children"...
    ...would that make any sense at all?
  • Statist: I guess not.
  • Me: then explain to me, why the fuck do you propose the exact same thing, when I tell you that I want to stop giving my money to a group of people who routinely abuse and murder peaceful people?

Statist: As a society we have chosen to use a system of taxation.

Me:

  • "As a society, we have chosen to throw virgins into a volcano"
  • "As a society, we have chosen to enslave the black man"
  • "As a society, we have chosen to elect hitler/stalin/mao"
  • "As a society, we have chosen to participate in mass murders called 'wars'"
  • "As a society, we have chosen to barbarically cage anyone who uses certain plants, and call that 'justice'"
  • "As a society, we have chosen to commit mass theft, and exploit the resources of other peoples foriegn and domestic"

The truth is, "we" have not chosen, and certainly I have not. In the old days, governments gained their legitimacy by claiming to have authority from the gods, or noble bloodlines and other superstitions. Today you carry the superstition of democracy.


If the system is evil, no proposal that requires good people to obey the "rules" of the system, can possibly ever work.