A Follow-up

While fresh on private property rights, I must go back to my previous post about ridiculous "libertarians" and "economists."

Yesterday, a man crashed his plane into an IRS office. He is quoted as saying before the crash,

"I have had all I can stand. I choose not to keep looking over my shoulder at 'big brother' while he strips my carcass."

Although I don't agree with the means this man employed to get back at 'big brother,' I think it is unjustified to say that he was unjustified. This goes back to the theory of law and property that I subscribe to (here in MP3). Essentially, I own 1) myself, 2) anything that I appropriate that is not already appropriated, and 3) I am free to exchange with others and can come to own the property that I acquire in exchange. This is the foundation of a civil and functional society. Thievery is inherently self-defeating because there is no justification for giving any number of people the authority to take from others what was not originally appropriated or exchanged for themselves. If one man can do it, all men will do it.

The way that a private property society is reinforced is simply self defense. I am justified for hitting back when the thief hit me first. So, is our IRS bomber doing what he has the right to do? I'd say so. I don't think that in the long run it does us any good, but it cannot be denied that he focused his attack on the very agency that robs him. The workers within might be semantically 'innocent,' but most people in this country support taxation and thus, whether they are aware that they are technically thieves or not, they are apart of the problem. Call me self-righteous, but I am sticking to a firmly-grounded gun.

This is why I was so hot at Tyler Cowen for saying that there "exists a case for a VAT." This is simply not true. There is never a case for taxation, be it income, value-added, property, etc. There is never a case for thievery. I know it allows economists to dabble and play and have a grand time, but taxation is not justifiable.

Moreover, even if we discount the private property theory of law and look at this issue from a purely 'economic' standpoint, hooking up the federal government to another form of life support will not get us any closer to long-run equilibrium. This kind of cop-out obfuscates the issue at hand, and that issue is the monopolization of the use of force. This pernicious detail is the bleeding, pumping heart of our economic woes, and it should not be forgotten.