Hello All,
I do not believe I have read a more precise dissection of what Government is
and is not then in the following piece below.
Here is just one excerpt from it which pretty much says it all:
"It is the purpose of all governments to murder that they might get gain. This
plain and simple truth is so harsh upon the human mind, that few are willing to
accept it. The rulers in government exploit every opportunity to proclaim their
altruism, their service, their benevolence, their necessity, and their right to
rule. The fabrications that they return in exchange for obedience are nothing
more than worthless paper promises."
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Worthless Paper Promises
by Jeremy Locke
by Jeremy Locke
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It is the purpose of all governments to murder that they might get
gain. This plain and simple truth is so harsh upon the human mind, that few are
willing to accept it. The rulers in government exploit every opportunity to
proclaim their altruism, their service, their benevolence, their necessity, and
their right to rule. The fabrications that they return in exchange for
obedience are nothing more than worthless paper promises.
Purveyors of Violence
What goods or services can a government provide? What promises can
it keep? Without exception, every nation and empire in history has promised
that it will provide for the defense and welfare of its citizens.
Whatever means a government may have at its disposal, be they gold,
armies, organization, or even factories and farms; they are all provided
through violence. This is the fundamental separation between free enterprise
and government. You can choose your enterprises, but you cannot choose your
empire.
All means of government are acquired through force. By whatever
name, all possessions of governments are attained through violent means. From
national lands, to national treasuries, to indentured servants, every
possession of every nation is acquired through the means of taxes or war. When
tribute is demanded and paid, it is a tax. When tribute is refused and taken by
force, it is war. The scale of these tactics does not diminish this truth. If
they are used against a lone rogue in the wilderness, or against a mighty
people overseas, the results and purposes are the same.
Gain for governments may come in the form of recognized money, or
of conquered lands, or by the ability to command the arbitrary obedience of
peoples. All governments use both the threat and the actual use of violence in
order to get gain.
Promises
One of the biggest questions left to thinking people is: What if
the government does not live up to its promise? If the police fail to defend
your family from invasion, or your home from robbery, will they step aside so
that you can choose a capable candidate to secure you? There is a word for
attempting to select a better protector for yourself; it is treason.
Promises governments make in exchange for obedience cannot be kept.
This may seem to be an overzealous statement, but it is not. It is a simple
truth that you cannot create by destroying. Life is the stuff of choices, the
stuff of searching and learning. You cannot gain happiness or prosperity when
the essence of life - free will - is destroyed. It is simply not possible.
A government may promise wealth or security, but after its
machinations are put in place, it will destroy instead of create. A tax
collector may believe he is advancing the greater good. A solider may believe
that he is securing liberty. A bureaucrat may believe that he is organizing
others' lives more efficiently. No exceptions, if an action of law removes
choice from human life, it can only destroy. Muggers, rapists and mafias
destroy free will in various ways. Few would make the claim that they add
benefit to society, despite any other actions they may take outside their
criminal occupations.
While nothing is added to humanity by stealing from one man and
giving to another, much is destroyed. The first loses the fruits of his labor,
and his trust for his fellow man. The second loses the ambition to create in
favor of making slaves of his neighbor. You cannot create anything good by
destroying free will. The facts are plain. That which destroys, destroys.
Social Insurance
One of modern history's most audacious promises issued by
governments is the idea of social insurance, either in the form of medical or
retirement benefits, stored with the government, in the promise of future
security.
The essence of such promises is that if you yield money and control
to the rulers of law today, they will make sure that you are provided for in
the future. The most obvious and immediate effect of such systems is the
transfer of wealth (by force, since such things are never voluntary) from the
citizenry to the government. The more sinister and latent effect is that it
urges people into a complete dependence upon law.
Social insurance schemes create volumes of paper promises (or just
mysterious "trust us" notions) that are issued to people in exchange for
obedience today. Hard assets (labor and obedience) are transferred to the
rulers now, in exchange for unaccountable promises tomorrow.
Fiat Currencies, Bonds
The paper promises most frequently seen in normal life, of course,
are the currencies issued as money by governments. Whether they be total fiat
currencies, asset-backed currencies, or bonds, governments issue paper promises
redeemable tomorrow, in exchange for hard assets (your labor) today.
As with all laws, such promises are not purchased voluntarily. In
order to buy and sell, without risking chains, one must use the law's paper. As
with all paper promises, hard assets are yielded today, in exchange for an
unaccountable promise tomorrow - the ability to redeem the paper for something
of value.
Such paper promises can be inflated, defaulted, reneged, or
subjected to involuntary terms at any time.
Real Estate, Deeds
People who purchase real property perceive that they are trading
money for a hard asset. This should be true, but it is not.
Under governments, people do not actually purchase real property;
they purchase deeds, a paper permission from government to possess property.
The deed requires annual maintenance fees called property taxes. Purchasing
real estate under governments is actually a transfer of hard assets (the tax)
in exchange for the paper promise that government will enforce your ability to
possess that property.
As with all government paper, the terms can change at any time.
They can raise the extraction cost, or they can arbitrarily determine rules
upon which you use your property. Hard assets go to the rulers of law, and
phantom paper promises go to you.
There is no negotiation; if you want property, you must accept the
arbitrary rule of law.
Law, Treaties, Constitutions
Without a doubt, the most sinister, cunning, and all-sweeping paper
promises ever issued by the rulers of law, are laws themselves. The formula is
the same. You have no choice in accepting the transaction; where you are born
determines the rulers you will obey. The gain yielded to governments is nothing
short of your entire life - your complete and total obedience to any future
demand they create. The paper promises they return in exchange are written laws
guaranteeing your security and prosperity. Hard assets are yielded
involuntarily, and paper promises are given in return.
The supreme proof that such promises were never meant to be kept is
the massive destruction of both wealth and security created by law. The most
sweeping name for that destruction is war. Governments are very, very good at
it.
Pure Theft
It is a simple truth that there is no reason to use force against
people unless you are trying to steal something from them. All of the paper
promises of law are worthless, because there is no intention of them being
kept. If law was willing to live up to its promises, it wouldn't need to force
people to accept them. The reason it must force people is because it has no
intention of returning equal value for that which it takes. It issues phantom
promises to quiet the minds of its victims, lest they rebel.
February 6, 2007
Jeremy Locke [send him mail] is the author of The End of All Evil.
Copyright © 2007 LewRockwell.com
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