Today, Americans celebrate their independence – from what, exactly?
From Great Britain? Why should that be cause for celebration? What have Americans gained thereby?
Was it “taxation” – with “representation”? Is this in fact the case? And if so, can it be accounted an improvement?
The fundamental thing is this business of taxation. Everyone knows what it means – the obligatory handing over (one isn’t “paying”) of money, unwillingly, to be used to finance things the person made to hand over the money almost certainly does not wish to finance. Hence the necessary element of threats – of physical violence – leveled and implicit in every tax, to coerce the handing over. 
In other words, strong-arm robbery – as distinct from mere theft, which is a lesser thing because it is generally done without overt violence or threats thereof. The thief steals in the manner of an opportunistic fox, who sees that the henhouse is open. It would be robbery rather than mere theft if the fox – armed with a gun – sent you a letter declaring that you “owed” him a chicken and had better deliver it to him by such-and-such a date.
Theft, though very bad, is much better than robbery because the latter always comes with violence. It is the essential element of the thing.
Why is robbery-made-legal – by calling it “taxation” – a good thing or even an acceptable thing when it is performed by “representatives”?
Of whom, precisely?
Well, of those who decide they want to rob you. Is that not what it means – literally and exactly? One does not rob oneself. The suggestion is absurd. The thing necessarily entails being ordered to hand over money, or else.
How is it that such robbery becomes something other than robbery because the robbers have gotten together and voted to rob those who would rather not be robbed? Is it because the robbed party was allowed to vote not to be robbed and his vote over-ruled? What is the value of such an impotent gesture?
How does being “represented” prevent you from being robbed when the question of whether it is acceptable to rob people has already been answered in the affirmative – provided enough people agree to it by voting for their “representatives” to do it?
It seems that what is gained by taxation with representation is little more than the prospect of less robbery, possibly – depending upon whether the number of people voting to not be robbed exceeds that of those of who vote in favor of robbing.
The question of whether to rob – at all – having already been voted on, affirmatively.
Colonial farmers – many of whom fought for independence from Great Britain – discovered that they were not independent from taxation; i.e., from robbery. They weren’t even “represented,” in that the taxes they were told they “owed” were levied by a federal government that did not “represent” them. How could it possibly have done so? If it had done so, there would have been no taxation – by dint of the fact that the farmers did not wish to be robbed.
Rather, as always, the “represented” were the robbers.
Who are also, inevitably, the rulers – a thing which correlates closely with the power to tax. If it is possible to legally rob a man, then those who have the power to do that in a very real sense own that man. A working (functional) definition of slavery is precisely that. The slave is a man who is obliged to hand over what he has produced, else be punished. The slave’s owner has voted for this, exactly – that “vote” expressed by the very same thing used to rob people who – by the clever artifice of “representation” – do not regard themselves as slaves – i.e., the threat of violent repercussions if the slave does not “stand and deliver.”
If the chattel slave (the more honest form of slavery) were permitted to vote . . . to be robbed by a different “massa” . . . would he be less a slave? If he were allowed to retain some of the product of his labor? The amount always subject to the “vote” of those “representatives” who have it in their lawful power to rob him, whenever enough of them vote to do just that?
The power to rob is the power to do anything. It is even worse than robbery – which is among the worst things contrived by man – because when it is legalized, it finances itself. Those who rob you increase their power to rob, further. It is why the robbers are armed with nuclear weapons and aircraft carrier task forces – to say nothing of the local band of robbers in every jurisdiction of these United (by force) States, who have their own fleets of vehicles and armories – the more effectively to rob you with.
Does it make it better because you are allowed to “vote” for (or even against) them?
Imagine if marriage – if intimate relations – were based on such a policy. Would you feel less violated if you had been allowed to vote “no” on the arranged marriage you were forced into, regardless?
The usual retort is that taxation-robbery is the “necessary price of civilization.” But is it possible to conceive of anything less civilized than strong-arm robbery made lawful by . . . process? Which – by dint of that sleight-of-hand – not only undermines the very basis of civilization by undermining the most profoundly basic element of it – the right of every human being to not be legally robbed – but does worse by conditioning him to accept such robbery as “the necessary price of civilization”?
Would not civilization be respected and preserved by not robbing anyone?
It would certainly be something worth celebrating.
. . .
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The Prophecy of a KGB Agent
a 1985 interview of Yuri Bezmenov, a KGB agent who defected to the West in 1970.
The interview is about the Soviet Union’s (today china’s ccp style government together with the bankster/wef/un/.0001% great reset, globalist, new world order central government worldwide) strategy to subvert the United States and all countries worldwide. It is eye-opening and I wish to share a quote here first:
“Marxism-Leninism ideology is being pumped into the soft heads of at least three generations of American students, without being challenged or counter-balanced by the basic values of Americanism and American patriotism … The demoralization process in the United States is basically completed already … Most of it is done by Americans to Americans thanks to lack of moral standards.
As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him. Even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents, with pictures. Even if I take him by force to the Soviet Union and show him concentration camp he will refuse to believe it until he is going to receive a kick in his fat bottom. When the military boot crashes him, then he will understand, but not before that. That’s the tragic of the situation of demoralization.”
What Mr. Bezmenov described 35 years ago is unfolding in front of our very eyes. To me, what is most alarming is that the demoralization is mostly “done by Americans to Americans due to lack of moral standards.” Actually, as Bezmenov pointed out, “for the last 25 years, actually it’s over-fulfilled because the demoralization now reaches such areas where previously not even Comrade Andropov [KGB leader during 1967–1982] and all his experts would even dream of such a tremendous success.”
According to Bezmenov, only 10 to 15 percent of the KGB’s personnel and resources were allocated to traditional clandestine espionage in James Bond’s style, with the rest going to “legitimate, overt, and open” ideological subversion. He said that subversion happens in four stages: demoralization, destabilization, crisis, and “normalization.”
The first stage, lasting for about 15 to 20 years, the period of time needed to raise a generation, is to brainwash the public with communist ideology. Manipulation of the media and academia is required for this purpose.
The second stage focuses on throwing society into chaos, and it usually takes 2-5 years. During this stage, the status quo in economy, foreign relations, and defense systems are changed. The establishment promises all kinds of goodies in order to win people’s support for creating a massive government that is intrusive to people’s lives. Media and academia are also essential to make it successful.
The third stage instigates a crisis that leads to a civil war, revolution, or foreign invasion. This stage only took 2-6 months.
This is the stage when the leftist idealists, or “useful idiots,” are no longer needed, because they would be disillusioned, become obstacles, push back, turn against the new government. They are going to be eliminated, exiled, or imprisoned. note: this is the interesting part, when the communists takeover, leftist idealists, or “useful idiots,” who helped the communists are exterminated. for one they know too much.
it happened in Grenada, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and China. “It is the same pattern everywhere,” said Bezmenov. when the communists takeover leftist idealists, or “useful idiots,” who helped the communists are exterminated.
These three steps culminate in the fourth and final stage of “normalization”—the populace begins to accept and assimilate communism. This final stage can take up to 20 years to complete.
The amazing book, “How the Specter of Communism Is Ruling Our World,” gives a comprehensive analysis of the non-violent infiltration of communism in the West. In 1884, a year after Karl Marx’s death, the British Fabian Society was founded to bring about communism gradually. p. e. trudeau brought fabian communism to canada.
It encourages its members to advance socialist aims by joining suitable organizations and ingratiating themselves with important figures, such as cabinet ministers, senior administrative officials, industrialists, university deans, and church leaders. Since then, many American intellectuals began accepting communist ideas or its Fabian socialist variant.
The 1960s counterculture movement produced a large number of young anti-traditional students who were influenced greatly by cultural Marxism and Frankfurt School theory. After graduation, they entered the institutions with the most influence over society and culture, such as universities, news media, government agencies, and non-profits.
What guided them at that time was mainly the theory of “the long march through the institutions” proposed by Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci. This “long march” aimed to alter the most important traditions of western civilization. As a result, generations of young people have been indoctrinated with the communist ideology.
Why are Intellectuals So Prone to Communism?
Intellectuals tend to be fooled by radical ideologies. This phenomenon has drawn the attention of scholars. British historian Paul Johnson found that radical intellectuals share the fatal weaknesses of arrogance and egocentrism.
Founding Father John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Interestingly enough, a ruthless communist dictator, Joseph Stalin, echoed his point from another angle, “America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within.”
Plenty of fireworks at an Independence Day parade in Chicago on the Fourth of July, lots of fun, hot dogs, apple pie.
Mostly peaceful mayhem, death happens when you get shot and killed, what else is new? Check the news from Copenhagen.
https://neonnettle.com/news/19498-jpmorgan-warns-oil-price-about-to-triple-devastate-economy
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/oil-price-could-hit-stratospheric-380-if-russia-retaliates-g7-oil-price-cap
Zerohedge has the article paywall-ed, neonnettle has the same article, you can read it all there. A Pavlov dog would know better.
Zerohedge premium shtick is fully exposed. This article is so good… say the kikes who own the fully corrupted fight club, the stupid suckers are there all of the time.
Not to worry, Dutch farmers are raising hell in the Netherlands.
A Dutch fishermen blockade was formed in support of the farmers.
Three Dutch farmers commit suicide in one week, enough is enough, Dutch farmers take action, the aggression will not stand.
Cats and dogs would live a lonely existence with no humans around to comfort them. There’s a feral cat at the farm these days. Gotta be somewhere, no matter where you go, there you are.
Gettin’ to be a dog-eat-dog world out there.
“Things ain’t tough yet, I’ve seen one dog eat another.” – an old experienced farmer speaking to a group of young people during the Great Depression
Fortunate to have a garden large enough to share with the rest of the happy campers out there in the land of the free and the home of the brave, from the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans and so on.
Hunter Thompson was the first American to ever use crazy pills. The real crazy pills.
Nowadays, everybody on the planet is on crazy pills. However, all of the crazy pills are of the wrong kind. Deadly crazy pills are what’s available. Dr. Fauci made sure of that.
Don’t forget to take yours, the Pfizer fake crazy pill is preferred to the Moderna fake crazy pill, take all of them, you’ll be crazier every day. Get the Sputnik fake crazy pill, go for the gusto. Putin takes one every four hours.
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on July 4th in 1826 CE.
1776 plus 50 equals 1826.
100 year-old WWII veteran weeps for ‘murica.
Welcome to whatever it is that is going on in this god-forsaken world.
The Straussians take crazy pills one after the other.
No other explanation for their insanity.
Take me back to the good old days of extinction rebellion, just a better world.
Hi drumphish,
I actually saw a pretty good quote from someone commenting on the Chicago shooting that happened yesterday. He said, “Instead of more electric cars, we need more electric chairs.” I agree with him.
Consent is illusory. The evil we are up against comes from the Progressive movement, which managed in the early 20th century to equate liberty with democracy in the public mind. In fact, as this nation’s founders well knew, democracy is antithetical to liberty. Democracy is mob rule in which the individual is expendable. As far back as ancient Greece, Plato described the process by which democracy inevitably leads to tyranny.
Until the Progressives triumphed philosophically, this country was based on the principle that the individual was sovereign and allowed the government only certain specified powers. The ascendancy of the Progressive philosophy has inexorably led to a reversal of that concept. In the juridical sphere, that has resulted in the income tax (16th Amendment), direct election of Senators (17th Amendment), the Federal Reserve (no amendment, just blatantly contrary to the Constitution), and the Supreme Court blessing almost any exercise of government power. On a personal level, most Americans came to believe that a majority of their fellow citizens (in reality a majority of bought and paid for politicians) were justified in dictating everything about their lives.
“Majority rules” is one of the most evil concepts ever put into words. No one can be free if he is ruled by others, no matter their numbers. If applied to a group of friends deciding which restaurant to go to, no problem. If you really hate the place the others decide on, you can beg off and go elsewhere. If applied to a nation, and you are not free to decline, it is tyranny. And that is the point that the US has reached.
Hi Mike,
Excellently said. The modern veneration of “democracy” is noisome as well as ahistorical, as you point out. It was feared – and loathed – by most educated Americans until the Progressive era – for all the reasons you’ve elaborated. It is worse than monarchy or dictatorship because “the people” become the dictators. But the thing has a superficial, childish appeal – and so it appeals to people who are superficial and childish in their thinking, which is how government schools have taught them to think.
“We should expect tyranny to result from democracy, the most savage subjection from an excess of liberty”. Plato
“From Great Britain? Why should that be cause for celebration? What have Americans gained thereby?”
Are you aware that Britain had a 95% tax rate at one time?
The Beatles song Taxman saying “should 5% appear too small” wasn’t a joke. That was real.
Hi Nate,
Yes, I am aware – and are you aware of similarly high tax rates here, as well?
“For tax years 1944 through 1951, the highest marginal tax rate for individuals was 91%, increasing to 92% for 1952 and 1953, and reverting to 91% 1954 through 1963.[34]”
The point being – we’re being robbed blind by those urging us to “celebrate” they haven’t robbed us of everything.
Hi Eric.
“Taxes are simply the dues we pay for living in a civilized society”. Yes, I’ve actually heard Good Citizens parrot this. I draw your attention to dues and civilized. Dues are paid by choice, not by coercion. How “civilized” is a society that does not recognized personal ownership and personal property?
Remember the old meme;”libertarianism, the radical idea that other people are not your property”?.
But as long as the Gangs control the public indoctrination system, and their cronies control the mass/social media, expect their plunder to continue. When you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can count on Paul’s continued support. Then you turn around and rob Paul, and pay Peter. That sets up a system that can last for a very long time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTABEQ4Qh5Y&ab_channel=MostlySimpsons
Here’s the rub, Eric – while the marginal tax rate in the US was extremely high throughout the 1950’s and 1960s, the effective tax rate paid by most Americans was around 15-20 percent, just like today. In fact, with the boost in sales and state income taxes as well as property taxes to pay for skoooooooools in the name of “deeeeeemooooocracy” the tax rates are likely much higher. I pay roughly 32 percent of my “income” to the fed and state governments. That does not count property and sales taxes, so that figure is likely closer to 42 percent. I’m temped to quit. At this point, what is there to lose? I’m likely to lose it all anyway.
I agree, Swamp –
I sometimes think the thing to do is buy a nice travel trailer – they are relatively cheap; you can get an extremely nice one for $40k or so – and buy some land far, far away from any population center – and just “gray man” the rest of my days.
“
Your local School Board is a shining example of “Taxation without Representation”.
For as long as I have been paying yearly School Taxes – 22 years – not once did any rate hike, or millage increase, ever get voted on by the citizens.
Frank, around here there are votes. But when an increase fails, they bring it back again and again until their emotional propaganda convinces the ignorant masses that a higher tax is good for them.
Another tactic they use is to say that there will be “No Tax Increase” when a tax that would have expired is up for renewal. Of course that is a lie, since there are two ways of increasing a tax: raise the rate or lengthen the term. With the latter, your taxes will go down if the measure fails, but if it’s approved you will continue to pay. It’s sort of like when you finally pay your mortgage off, the lender tells you: “Have we got a deal for you! We’re going to leave your monthly payment the same, but you get to keep paying it for another 10 years!”
Someone exposed the fraud of this, so now the billboards from a distance appear to say “No Tax Increase,” but if you get close enough, pull over, and put on your glasses, you’ll see that there’s the tiny word “Rate” between “Tax” and “Increase.”
They do the same thing everywhere I’ve ever lived (MA, SC, CT & FL) with property taxes. We’re not raising the tax rate, in fact we may even reduce it by a penny or two per thousand. Oh, but, the value of your house increased by 50%, so ha ha, your tax bill is still hundreds more than it was last year. But hey! We decreased the tax rate! When I was in MA in the late 80’s, real estate prices took a nosedive after a surge in 86. In 86, my house was worth maybe 140. By 89, I might have been lucky to get 80 grand for it, but it was still assessed at 140, which was about an extra $500 a year. Went to the assessors office to file an appeal and they told me to my face to screw off, they don’t grant appeals, period. Get a lawyer they said. Contacted lawyers, they all wanted 6 to 8 hundred to take the case. Can’t win! This is the same city that sent me a fine for $250 for an unpaid parking ticket. I wasn’t in town on the date of the ticket. On a business trip, had airline tickets, hotel receipts, the whole nine yards to prove I wasn’t even there, so I went to court. Judge says “your proof is impressive, but I still find you responsible for the violation”. Talk about in your face, fuck you, stick em up theft! Forty years, and I still want to scream about that bullshit. Fuck Massachusetts, although every other state is probably just as bad.
Yes. It’s not as bad in Florida as they cap homestead at 3 percent increases. In stupid assed Texas, the land of supposed “small government” they raise it to what they want. Texas is a horrible place with the escalating “home values.”
All of these RINO repukes can’t wait to get their money on your money. Of course if you’re big business, you get special loans, corporate privilege and access to unlimited amounts of capital to put up the next shopping strip, discount mall, chain restaurant or whatever homogonized sameness that is welcomed.
As for Massachusetts, I visited there a few months ago. Wit hthe proliferation of UUUUUUKKRAINe flags and fag flags, I never want to return again. I have no doubt that thos yankee doodle judges behave like that and I have no doubt that “protesting property tax assessments” is futile.
I hate this country at this point.
Hi Swamp,
in re: “I hate this country at this point.”
I hate what’s being done to it – and the people doing it. The exasperating thing is that most people don’t want what it’s becoming. I believe that if the “red” people could somehow separate themselves from the “blue,” we would have America back. Not a libertarian ideal. But something like we had 30 years ago – and that was not half-bad.
Hi Eric
An interesting article
The Truth of the Matter • “Citizens” are government employees. All the rest of us are not “citizens” of any kind
https://www.truth11.com/untitled-330/
There is a lot of subtlety to it. Here the local screwel district wanted more dough to expand their fiefdom, so they had a referendum. Oddly it was scheduled in an off year, very lightly attended election where all school faculty, staff, and administration were given paid time to go vote. Amazingly it passed, and now our impoverished little chunk of nowhere has much higher property taxes to benefit 150 or so school employees.
Which is why I tell people that voting actually does matter, but not so much in the big name contests like president every 4 years. The most important votes are in small, ignored, local elections which a few percent of the people are even aware, and they are always fanatical plunderers.
Ernie, it’s always astounding how routinely the government-school establishment uses obfuscation, trickery and outright lies to get more money for their scam. I want to ask parents: Are these the people you want teaching your kids?
I want to ask parents: Are these the people you want teaching your kids?
Most American parents don’t give a damn about their kids. “School” is just government-furnished babysitting for 6 to 8 hours a day,ve days a week for nine months out of
“It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.” Frederic Bastiat
“It seems that what is gained by taxation with representation is little more than the prospect of less robbery, possibly – depending upon whether the number of people voting to not be robbed exceeds that of those of who vote in favor of robbing.” -Eric the Peters
Well, this is exactly why much of the population is kept servile by them receiving some scraps of the loot being plundered from the working class. A significant portion of the populace is “on the take”, and thus WILL vote to keep taking.
Don’t like the old government?….the new WEF Agenda 2030 one will be worse…
The WEF infested current leftist government traitors are bringing in the great reset government the NWO UN central government for the G7, run by schwab who says you will own nothing, they stole all the money now they will steal your children and your land…
Solution?…..Get out of the G7 quickly
Reset This…
“The following is an excerpt from Michael Walsh’s forthcoming book, Against the Great Reset: Eighteen Theses Contra the New World Order, which will be published by Bombardier Books and be available October 18, 2022.
Walsh has gathered a series of essays from among eighteen of the most eminent thinkers, writers, and journalists—including the American Mind’s own James Poulos, as well as Claremont Senior Fellows Michael Anton and the late Angelo Codevilla—to provide the first major salvo in the intellectual resistance to the sweeping restructuring of the western world by globalist elites.”
https://americanmind.org/salvo/reset-this/
Tom Woods, writing in today’s email:
Independence Day is coming up, and I wonder how many people really get why it matters.
In school, we were told this: “No taxation without representation.”
Zzzzzzzz.
The real principles were more like the following.
(1) No legislation without representation.
The colonists insisted that they could be governed only by the colonial legislatures. This is the principle of self-government.
This is why a Supreme Court ordering localities around is anti-American in the truest sense. It is the opposite principle from the one the American colonists stood for.
(2) Contrary to the modern Western view of the state that it must be considered one and indivisible, the colonists believed that a smaller unit may withdraw from a larger one. Today we are supposed to consider this unthinkable.
(3) The colonists’ view of the (unwritten) British constitution was that Parliament could legislate only in those areas that had traditionally been within the purview of the British government. Customary practice was the test of constitutionality.
The Parliament’s view, on the other hand, was in effect that the will and act of Parliament sufficed to make its measures constitutional. In other words: if they say it’s constitutional, that makes it constitutional, even if that means the constitution changes from one day to the next.
So the colonists insisted on strict construction, if you will, while the British held to more of a “living, breathing” view of the Constitution.
Sound familiar?
So let’s recap: Independence Day is about local self-government, secession, and strict construction. Not exactly the themes you learned in school.
And not even what you’ll learn in graduate school.
One day I decided I had to know what my fellow Columbia Ph.D. students thought Independence Day was all about.
What could these left-liberals be celebrating? They don’t favor local self-government, which is what the war was all about. They don’t favor strict construction of the Constitution, while the colonists were insisting on precisely that, in a British context. And they certainly don’t favor secession.
So what the heck did they think it was all about?
Only one person answered me: “There was a distance involved.”
So the problem was that the ruling class was too far away?
“Come on, men, we must continue making sacrifices so that we may someday have exploiters who live close by!”
Some rallying cry that would have been.
Worth a few minutes of time to read:
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2022/07/thomas-dilorenzo/lincolns-repudiation-of-the-declaration-of-independence/
“Who will build the roads?” I thought of this yesterday as I took a day trip to SLC. The strict Libertarian answer is that roads would be private, and tolls paid. That would probably be the case for long distance interstate style highways, but locally roads would proably be paid for from local taxation. But that would still be preferable to the system we have now, where the central authority gathers up 20%+ of everyone’s revenue, then doles it back out to the “most needy.” The only reason that things evolved this way was because of war and debt. War, because the Feds are agressive and love a good fight, and debt because the Feds are optimists. And why shouldn’t they be? They got elected (selected?) out of all of the population, against incredible odds. Like winning the popularity lottery. Of course God smiled on them! Spend “a little” now and it will come back 5 fold in new tax revenue!
The awful truth is that at the federal level, all our taxes are just going to make interest payments on bonds, Social Securty (bonds) and Medicare. I can’t find the chart on a sharable site, but basically tax revenue dipped below mandatory spending sometime around 2018-2019 and hasn’t come back up. Now that we’re in a recession and the boomer retirement wave (or tide), that’s likely to get much worse. The “consumer economy” is here. Businesses believe automation will lever up employee productivity. But you can’t tax the employees much more the 40%, and “automation” is deductable. In short, the system has reached its predicted outcome.
Fill ‘er up at your local Let’s Go Brandon gas station.
Illustration by WilliamBanzai7:
https://tinyurl.com/3f2nt9yz
It would be more appropriate if the american people were in the position of Joe Biden in that meme shot and Biden was in the position of Putin.
If I correctly recollect the history books, the British tax was like three percent. Today the Fedgovs top bracket is ten times that. With all taxes and ‘fees’ and whatever WE (the free little guys) pay in the neighborhood of sixty percent of income. Property/Income taxes in some states/cities are so high they have to pay in payments yet those same Americans claim to be free and brave swallow the load of being a free indispensable nation.
Already it’s blue vs red. My phone rings all day long by folks wanting this or that person elected or worse,,, money for the blue (law enforcement) pensions and their children’s education. After the election we will complain about how unfair the election was,,, how the red or blue cheated,,, and on and on, UNTIL the next election cycle. Then it all begins anew. It’s an asylum of insanity whether inside or outside.
From the link I posted below, ‘Was the American Revolution a Mistake?’:
“Not counting local taxation, I discovered that the total burden of British imperial taxation was about 1% of national income. It may have been as high as 2.5% in the southern Colonies.”
‘Was the American Revolution a Mistake?’
“So as a result of the American Revolution, the tax burden tripled. […]
The proponents of independence invoked British tyranny in North America. But there was no British tyranny in North America. […]
The Boston Tea Party: A Protest Against Lower Tea Prices
What would libertarians — even conservatives — give today in order to return to an era in which the central government extracted 1% of the nation’s wealth? Where there was no income tax?
Would they describe such a society as tyrannical?” …
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/07/gary-north/was-the-american-revolution-a-mistake/
‘Traitors to the American Revolution’
“The whitewash of American history has been very thorough indeed.”
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2006/09/thomas-dilorenzo/traitors-to-the-american-revolution/
‘The Revolutions Were’
“There will be an enormous redistribution of wealth when the federal government finally runs out of cheap loans to support the existing welfare-warfare state. That is when the rubber will meet the road. That will be the day of reckoning. That will be when we find out which way this nation is headed. Until then, the present ruling class will continue to get its way.” …
https://www.garynorth.com/public/15733.cfm
Meanwhile, Hamilton began publishing essays under the name of “Tully” in Philadelphia newspapers, denouncing mob violence in western Pennsylvania and advocating military action.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion#Federal_response
Today I learned something. The government has always been covertly infiltrated into the media. Here I thought the CIA desk was something recent.
Were these Federalist Paper essays?
I watched my fellow Americans that are being ‘pummeled’ by the price of fuel and food inflation lay out a barrage of fireworks for four hours straight last night. We’re talking the serious and expensive fireworks. Yep,,, poor things can’t afford a gallon of gas but fireworks? No prob….
For Independence day, I received a property tax bill.
Amounts to more than one week’s pay for property that is otherwise paid in full.
I feel so free.
Related article by Technofog:
The greatest threat to “democracy” is from our elected representatives.
https://technofog.substack.com/p/the-greatest-threat-to-democracy
Aw shit. It’s pay walled but the free part lays it out pretty well.
Not that I disagree, but I would ask how 435/535 people (who for the most part are the worst humanity has to offer) could possibly “represent” 330 million, even if they actually represented anything other than themselves in the first place. Mathematically, each member of the House (including, for example, Occasional-Cortex) “represents” over three quarters of a million people. There is no way to possibly “represent” the diverse positions of that many people. So we have 435/535 self-interested, corruptible, low-IQ narcissists claiming proxy power over the productive class. The results of which are finally reaching the zenith.
I’ll be watching fireworks tonight, but only because I think colorful pyrotechnics and loud bangs are cool. I will not be celebrating anything having to do with July Farce.
Amen BAC.
What happened to 1 for every 30,000? No amendment that I’m aware of changed this number.
But that would make congress too large it is argued.
Fine, split into smaller countries then.
With modern technology, having 10,000+ reps would be no problem.
BAC, not only can one of these creeps not represent hundreds of thousands; it is logically impossible for him to represent even two.
If I want him to vote against a bill and my neighbor wants him to vote for it, how can he represent both of us? Whichever way he votes, he fails to represent one of us. If he abstains, he fails both of us.
When someone truly represents me, he will do exactly as I say, every time. “Representative government” is a fourth-grade civics class fairy tale.
Brilliant observation BAC. I tend to agree with Spooner…
But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain – that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.
Lysander Spooner
Also….
A man’s natural rights are his own, against the whole world; and any infringement of them is equally a crime, whether committed by one man, or by millions; whether committed by one man, calling himself a robber, (or by any other name indicating his true character,) or by millions, calling themselves a government.
–Lysander Spooner
There needs to be a hard cap on the amount of taxes (and “fees”) that can be collected from a person.
Most people spend about half their income on government, when you add up all the sales taxes, fees, etc.
Everyone hates it…but nothing ever changes.
Are you getting your money’s worth? I’m not.
‘There needs to be a hard cap’ — publius
Humans have ten fingers.
Ten percent has been considered a reasonable limit on contributions to ‘the authorities’ — whether civil or religious — since Roman times.
‘Ten percent for the Big Guy’ is the only thing “Biden” will be remembered for, a thousand years hence.
And he didn’t even write that, as foreseen by the mighty Obama: ‘You didn’t build that.‘
Yeah but it should be no more than, like, 10% (preferably much less) total.
Fed, state, county, city—income, sales, & property—licenses tolls & a wide variety of fees…it all adds up, and quickly.
‘Is “taxation” – with “representation” — an improvement?’ — eric
History shows that most organized societies going back to antiquity have had taxes. Maybe a no-tax advanced economy is feasible, but it’s yet to be demonstrated.
What the US did have until 1913 was 48 different state tax regimes. The fedgov subsisted on Customs duties, which made up about two-thirds of its revenue.
Then Amendment XVI, probably fraudulently enacted, authorized the fedgov to end-run the so-called ‘sovereign states’ and directly pick their citizens’ pockets.
Obviously, your state is not sovereign when an outside entity can tax its citizens, often more heavily than the state itself.
And with Amendment XVII (direct election of Senators) having deprived the states of their veto in the Senate, they were powerless to stop the fedgov’s increasingly bold pillaging.
None other than Milton Friedman put the final nail in the coffin of freedom in 1943 with income tax withholding.
In the emergency conditions of wartime, bold power grabs are possible. And it’s wartime again, says “Biden.”
Speaking of wartime, it took two days for the Lügenpresse to acknowledge that Russia booted the Ukies out of Lysychansk, consolidating Russian control of Luhansk.
And there ain’t a goddamned thing the megalomaniacal US fedgov can do about it, other than rant and fume and shake its bony old fist at the sky.
Jim,
History also shows that most organized societies fairly quickly fall under the rule of socio/psychopaths. A possible connection with them also collecting taxes? An organized society without taxes has never been tried, because its not in the nature of socio/psychopaths to let it be tried. There is no difference between tax collection and a protection racket. “Pay us to protect you, or we will demonstrate how badly you need protection.” And then they don’t protect you after all.
Even if taxation with representation was found acceptable, the two parties have rigged the game. The only choice on the ballot is the bad party and the worse party. Neither of which are in the least bit concerned with representing you. They are concerned with acquiring power, so they can sell it to the highest bidder.
“Pay us money and we’ll leave you alone” has clearly metastasized.
Eventually, things will revert to the historical norm. Which is still annoying, but quite likely much less annoying, at least most of the time.
I could go on about this topic forever. You see, I was one of those naive fools that you read about that thought they could get away with not being robbed. The stories I could tell you about that!
But more importantly, what’s really been pissing me off lately, is this unlimited sponsorship of Ukraine. I can’t say it strongly enough… FUCK UKRAINE! The govt. has declared that they are going to give them the money they stole from us… “for as long as it takes.”
I’m not ok with giving those bastards one cent. I’m not ok with one second of inconvenience (never mind expense) for Piano Dick’s banana republic.
They’re literally saying it’s a “small price to pay” for whatever made-up bullshit about democracy. While I’m at it, fuck their fallacious “democracy” too!
Represented?! By whom?! For what?! The govt. hasn’t given one little shit about what “the people” want in forever.
I hate to break it to people but the difference between what we’re supposedly celebrating “independence” from and what we have today is that we get to vote for our monarchy equivalent.
Just like the unelected monarchy of the UK, our king, princes, princesses and lords are untethered by any accountability under the law. They have all violated their oaths and broken the contract.
Free?!?! Free to shut up, get in line and get needle raped. They need to take these fireworks and shoot them up the asses of every politician and deep state bureaucrat.
Well said EM,
The one thing both wings of the uniparty agree on is spending infinite amounts of (our) money on weapons and war, while making sure that none of them ever get near any wars. Chickenhawks all, more than happy to send someone else to “fight for freedom”. Ef um all.
Every government is based on its assumption of authority to kill you if you disobey.
There is no such thing as a tax payer. Taxes are collected, at gunpoint. Taxes also include permit fees, licensing fees, and confiscation of property without due process, as in asset forfeiture. Asset forfeiture is actually a line item in the budget of a nearby town here in Missouri.
I fail to see the point in taxes, since government has clearly shown it will borrow, as in have the Fed print up, whatever funds it desires to do whatever it pleases. Pursued to the end, why not just borrow it all, the entire budget?
Hi John
At least the taxes stolen go to a good cause….the parasite’s pensions…lol…
How Public Pensions Turn Cities Into Unlivable Hellholes
public pension funds are grossly underfunded. Consequently, more and more pension funds are borrowing money to play the markets. The goal is to boost returns to cover their massive funding gaps.
pension funds can attempt to fill their funding gaps by requesting increases in yearly contributions from governments and workers. But the public-employee unions go full ape when such measures are proposed. So the remaining option is to take on greater risk. What could go wrong?
According to a Municipal Market Analytics analysis of Bloomberg data, more than 100 city, county, state, and other governments borrowed for their pension funds last year. This is twice the highest number that did so in any prior year.
Standing behind these pension funds are state and local taxpayers – that’s you, acting as the ATM. Moreover, when the investment returns of public pension funds fall short, governments are primarily responsible for filling the void. This means cutting other spending and services, they don’t fix the infrastructure, or increasing taxes.
Covering pension fund obligations is a massive drag on state and local government finances. The fact is, there’s a legion of public workers out there who’ve been promised a retirement that’s no longer affordable.
These grand promises must be broken.
You can witness the effects when traversing through just about every city in America that has been in existence for more than 60 years. By repeatedly reallocating spending from much needed services, the present and future conditions of cities and municipalities are being transformed to unlivable hellholes.
Your neighbor, who retired from the city over 25 years ago, may frequently lament the shoddy conditions of the streets and sidewalks. He may bemoan the lack of resources to address burgeoning homeless encampments and the mobs of mentally ill zombies flailing about on the tired asphalt. All the taxes went to pay his pension…lol..
in 1998 they knew the math didn’t work to fund pension plans, wouldn’t be able to pay the pensions.
ATTENTION: in 2003 they said between 2020 and 2025 there would be a huge drop in the population numbers.
https://economicprism.com/how-public-pensions-turn-cities-into-unlivable-hellholes/
This is all pretty interesting, but government has side stepped the limitations on how much the citizens will bear of taxation and replaced it with, essentially, modern monetary theory. This kind of empire cannot exist solely on taxes collected….they would fall far short but instead from monetization of debt. The fall will be brutal and, I think, swift. The Fed plays a huge role in this scheme and debt keeps piling up. Currency devaluation is just gaining steam…..unfortunately, there are few means of self-protection when it comes to this level of tyranny. It’s going to be a hell of a ride folks, and I hope this community of people comes out undaunted….tis been a grand ride for me…..but I think my nephews, who have almost completely bought the crap they were fed at Virginia Tech, are going to be in for a rude awakening.
Hi Giuseppe!
While I oppose all “taxes” in principle – because I am opposed to robbery, in principle – I would gladly support a hard limit on the “taxes” that can be taken from anyone. In the aggregate. Not just income taxes. All taxes. Not more than 10 percent – the same as many religions ask of their adherents. It’s still robbery, of course – but it’s not highway robbery. All of us could be prosperous on this basis – especially the poorest among us, who are disproportionately affected by “taxes” that cannot be avoided, such as those on food and other necessaries – which ought to be abolished outright on that basis alone.
Ten percent on what you earn. No more. Not once cent more in property, FICA or another “taxes.”
Yeah, taxation WITH representation is nothing to crow about.
But we don’t have “representation” as is often sold in some 1950’s era Disney documentary pic or cartoon about the American Revolution. The original idea was that interested MEN, usually those of means, but with an eye towards the “bigger picture”, left their plantations, or businesses, or medical or legal practices, enough to travel to the Congress, do the necessary legislation, then GO HOME. There was no pension or other interests which leeched off the taxpayers, there simply wasn’t enough money involved. It was more a matter of making sure the interests of one’s state were not overrun by competing states.
However, gradually our Congress devolved into a de facto House of Lords.