Subject: Re: Agent of Our Own Destruction Day

Date: 19 Apr 1998 04:44:20 GMT

From: Jim Klein <rumin8@ix.netcom.com>

Organization: Auto-Moderation Bot, v0.99a

Newsgroups: humanities.philosophy.objectivism.slack

References: 1

Whojgalt wrote:

> Like all of you, I was done a great wrong yesterday. A portion

> of my wealth, a part of my life, was confiscated by those who

> had no part in producing it, to be used by those who have no

> right to its benefits. And the money is now in the hands of

> those who will use it against me.

Well said---concise and perfectly accurate.

>But the evil goes beyond that. We not only had money stolen from us,

>but we actively participated in the theft. We went down to the library

>or the post office to pick up the forms, we pored over arbitrary

>rules, maybe even payed people for advice on those rules, we

>agonized and sweated over the numbers, and worst of all we signed

>our names to the result. A signature is like a word of honor - and we

>gave our word of honor that the numbers on that form represent

>a legitimate debt and that we are obligated to pay it. We

>sanctioned the evil.

Not so. There is no "sanction" involved when you hand over money to an

armed robber; you're just prioritizing your values. And a

signature under duress is no "word of honor."

I've been robbed with a gun at my head and I pay my taxes---there is no

difference whatsoever except that the armed robber was far more honest,

and easier to understand.