Mariner Talk Chat Forum

If someone shows up at your door with a pizza and a gun and forces you to pay $500 for the pizza, is okay for you to eat the pizza? Or would that mean that you condone the robbery?

So after the government robs everybody blind with levels of taxation and inflation that make "land of the free" a phrase of mockery and orders of magnitude less free than we were under British colonial rule, they do provide some "services". The services are all terrible, because there is no competition.

If a person doesn't advocate for any of this extortion and doesn't really want to pay for the massive military and the welfare programs and the war on drugs, does that mean they should forego their social security out of principle or that it would be hypocritical to collect those checks?

I'm posing these questions based on the point raised in these forums that someone who opposes taxation but then, for example, drives down a government road is a hypocrite. That's a common, yet baseless argument. Those that oppose the immoral practice of "taxation" are not the ones forcing everyone to pay. The only hypocrisy would be if they were forcing people to pay for things, which they aren't. The fact that the ruling class steals from everyone and then gives back some crumbs doesn't make it hypocritical for the person who opposes all of the theft to nibble on some of the crumbs.

I think that's the biggest problem for me. Taking from people and giving back a very small percentage. It's the classic shell game when a government taxes you and then provides you with a 'rebate'. And people think it's great.

However, if you switched the scenarios and I took $100 out of your wallet and gave you $10 in return, you would be pissed. You would call me a thief.

But when the government does it...

douche wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 17, 2025 4:15 pm

I think that's the biggest problem for me. Taking from people and giving back a very small percentage. It's the classic shell game when a government taxes you and then provides you with a 'rebate'. And people think it's great.

However, if you switched the scenarios and I took $100 out of your wallet and gave you $10 in return, you would be pissed. You would call me a thief.

But when the government does it...

No doubt. It's bad enough that they take your money without your consent. But, then it becomes so blatantly obvious that they don't care about you. All your money goes to shit you don't want, and the shit you do want is horrible quality.

Meanwhile in the free market where there's competition and you have to work to gain a reputation of trust and quality and there's competition and options...

We can still have central planning... We can still pool funds... We don't need the guns of "government" for any of it.

Free Market FTW.