In protest of government people’s continued aggression against peaceful human beings, I decided to pay the latest Keene property tax bill, over $2700, in all ones. I brought pizza to share with those who were inconvenienced, gave a short speech, and Sam from the Obscured Truth Network brought his video camera. As usual, the bureaucrat aggressors did not like the cameras:
Three months after the Keene city council voted to steal 4 homes for not paying property taxes in 2005, they’re at it again; this time, preparing to steal 12 homes for unpaid property taxes from 2006. According to a memo in tonight’s city council meeting agenda, “the City would take deed to properties with unpaid taxes for the 2006 tax year or earlier” on November 12, 2009.
The city can choose to not steal a property if “taking deed to the property would for any other reason be contrary to the public interest”, according to the memo. Do you think it’s in the public interest to steal the liberty and property of peaceful people?
The memo is on page 43 of tonight’s city council agenda. We’re discussing the issue on the Free Keene forum here.
It’s funny; the enforcement agency of the City of Keene says this in its statement of ethics:
We will not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those who do.
If the police choose to enforce the City of Keene’s home thefts, I for one will be reporting an ethics violation.
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It was suggested that I be more tactful in my criticism of minarchy, so I took it into consideration… for about 4 and a half seconds.
In the Porcfest closing speech I discussed my recent arrest and imprisonment. along with the journey that lead up to this adventure:
The speech is 35 minutes long, followed by a Q&A Session that lasted the remainder of the hour. .
I’m getting asked a certain question a lot lately. Why pick on minarchists? We’re on the same side! Why aren’t you picking on socialists more? I’m glad I was asked because it made me put some thought into best how to express this with words. What is it about the philosophy of minarchism that really gets up in my craw?
And then it occurred to me. Anarchists and minarchists in one key respect are polar opposites. I’ve said before that there is an ocean between an anarchist and a minarchist, but only a creek between a minarchist and a socialist and I can finally nail it down succinctly. An anarchist believes that a monopoly government is the source of our enslavement. A minarchist believes a monopoly government is crucial to protecting our liberties. Exact opposites! So why do people keep saying we’re on the same side? Presumably it’s because we have similar preferences. We both love liberty.
Toby and Nick interview several guests live at this past weekend’s Free State Project’s Porcupine Freedom Festival 2009. A few of the guests are Free Keene’s bloggers!
Here’s your chance to sell me on the notion so make it good. Bare in mind, however, that I’m a critical thinker and I’m looking for logical arguments without the usual presumptions like “It’s always been done this way.” If we invented really efficient and clean-running hovercrafts, it would be silly to cling to the idea of wheels just because that’s how it’s been done for thousands of years. I’m also tired of arguments from need which are irrelevant. It doesn’t matter how much we need unicorns if they don’t exist or voodoo spells if they don’t work. There’s no point in having a discussion about the benefits of unicorns and their healing and purifying magical powers until someone convinces me they exist or they can create them.
(Read On…)
Thanks to Jeremy Couch, here’s the brand new Free Keene Facebook page - be sure to click “become a fan”!
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I would just like to take a moment to clarify something since there seem to be a lot of different interpretations of what I mean when I poke fun at “minarchists”.
When I use the term “minarchism”, I’m referring to an individual belief system, someone who believes a small government is necessary, and perhaps evil. A minarchist believes that government has a role in protecting life, liberty, and property. By itself, that wouldn’t be worthy of ridicule, but where it falls apart is when they insist that it must be an authoritarian monopoly on violence, i.e. that it must exert a supreme authority over a certain geographic region and individuals cannot choose to act apart from it. By its very nature, such a thing will never protect life, liberty, and property. Such a thing is inherently contradictory to such values. If, on the other hand, you can let go of the idea of it being a monopoly, then it is subject to the controls of the free market and regains the accountability that’s essential for it to ever do more good than harm.
A PA town has more surveillance cameras than anywhere in the US, wiretapping and the NSA, the Downiszer Dispatch, a British man eveicted from his cave dwelling, states fighting the federal government, journalist Dave Ridley sentenced to 6 days behind bars, and rubber rooms for bad teachers in NYC.
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