Like the man who bayonets a baby to save a city, when a man votes, he necessarily approves of the means used to obtain his end. The means of attaining any political end in a tax-based government is the coercion of tax dollars from innocents: an act of aggression. Quite simply, if you vote, you de facto support the infliction of violence upon your neighbors, because you support at least some tax-funded activities.
Somebody is going to get elected anyway: why shouldn't it be Ron Paul? Certainly, someone will be elected President. It may be the candidate who will inflict the most damage, through taxation and other means, on the individuals who live in these United States . It may be the candidate who will inflict the least amount of damage. I ask, however: Even if you knew that one of five nuclear weapons of varying warhead yields was going to be dropped on innocent civilians, would you participate in the process of selecting which one would be used to slaughter innocent people? Would you pull the lever that released the least-damaging bomb? Speaking only for myself, I could not, in good conscience, deliberately choose to harm non-aggressors. I would refuse to participate in such a foul and odious "choice." No one has the moral right to deliberately choose any moral evil, even if there exists a choice between a lesser or greater evil. If you are a religious person, you must realize that there is a contradiction in doing evil to achieve a good. St. Paul crushes any doubt of this in Romans 3:8: "Why not say-as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say-"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved."[2] Any tax-funded government is, by its very nature, fueled with violence. It forces innocent people to surrender their property in return for goods and services, most of which are altogether unnecessary. Invariably, the services that are necessary are of a very poor quality, compared with what might be available in the free market. Whatever services are truly necessary can always be supplied in a moral, voluntary manner. It is, however, entirely unreasonable to provide for the continuance of a coercive system that invariably causes more destruction than it ever prevents. If Ron Paul, however well-meaning he is, were to ever succeed in ensuring that the Judicial, Legislative and Executive branches of the federal government only functioned within the confines of the Constitution of the United States , he would still be unable cure the destructive nature of taxational government. Every government appropriates more power for itself, and then destroys property and lives. Ron Paul would only delay the worst symptoms of these certainties for a time, but at what cost, both in money and innocent lives? As Joshua Katz wrote in his excellent government/tiger analogy on LewRockwell.com, growth is natural to every taxation-based government. He compares a government to a tiger: It can accomplish some things its handlers want, but it continues to grow, eventually killing its handlers. I believe Mr. Katz's argument goes wrong, however, when he says that it is not the fault of the Founding Fathers that the tiger has gotten so big. It is the fault of the Founding Fathers. They drafted a Constitution with ends specifically provided for by the means of taxation: the "food" of coercive government. If you adopt a tiger when it is a cub, you must feed it. Otherwise, it starves to death. You cannot possess a tiger as a perpetual cub. A small government, like a small tiger, is a cute idea. The ideal of a small, controllable government is quickly dashed by the perennial historical fact that no taxation-based government has ever remained small, and in the blink of an eye, governments, like tigers, get too big for their handlers to control. A written constitution is a cage intended to keep the tiger of government contained. Common sense dictates that you cannot keep a tiger in a parchment and ink cage. It is ludicrous to believe otherwise. Part of what makes the tiger so dangerous is that it is so charming an animal. It convinces people that they need not fear the danger that temporarily lies sheathed under its lips and in its toes: tools it promises will only be used for the protection of those who feed it. To assure its continued food supply, the tiger promises it will keep a close eye on itself to make sure it does no evil. If, for a time, the tiger refrains from slaughtering too many constituents of its food supply chain, and continually assures them it will do no evil, the majority of people begin to believe that anything the tiger does is good. Alas, history shows that when it is big enough to not fear anyone, the tiger will invariably tear out of its parchment and ink cage. Then, those who fed the tiger, willingly or not, will die by its teeth and claws. The tiger feasts on your lifeblood and that of your neighbors. Don't elect anyone who will continue feed the tiger: It is an act of aggression. If you believe that you have any right to take and use your neighbor's money, then go take it from him by violence or threat of violence yourself. Don't be a coward by voting for another man to do the same thing by proxy. http://www.strike-the-root.com/81/turecek/turecek1.html [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
