Thread: Libertarian Limited Government and Military Spending

God laughing man you are so obsessed with this theorizing. Yes, I support limited government, and yes, there is a time and place where a LEGITIMATE tax is permissible, as long as it benefits EVERYBODY WHO IS PAYING IT. Such as a tax in order to maintain a navy/air force/etc. The Constitution says that no standing army should be funded for more than two years, unless we are in a declared war.

Originally Posted by Hercuflea

God laughing man you are so obsessed with this theorizing. Yes, I support limited government, and yes, there is a time and place where a LEGITIMATE tax is permissible, as long as it benefits EVERYBODY WHO IS PAYING IT. Such as a tax in order to maintain a navy/air force/etc. The Constitution says that no standing army should be funded for more than two years, unless we are in a declared war.

So it is only legitimate to steal when enough people are benefiting?

Well, you always have the option to leave if you do not agree with the policies the government is putting your money towards. So its not necessarily stealing.

Originally Posted by Hercuflea

Well, you always have the option to leave if you do not agree with the policies the government is putting your money towards. So its not necessarily stealing.

Why should I leave my property? The government doesn't own the land that I reside on, I do. Now if the system of taxation is permissible if it provides services for everyone, then you should also by logical extension favor taxation for government health care, taxation for government clothes, taxation for government food, taxation for government education, taxation for any good that the government can supposedly provide to everyone. If you do not, why not? It does not contradict your earlier statement of 'as long as it benefits EVERYBODY WHO IS PAYING IT'

And you are also forgetting an Austrian tenet. Benefit can only be established by voluntary transaction due to reverse inequality of value. Say I want military defense services and you want money. Only under voluntary exchange can we establish at what cost I value defense in terms of money and at what cost you value money in terms of defense. Therefore your tenet concerning taxation is inconsistent with Austrian economics

Yeah but under anarchy there is no reason for the person "providing" you with those military services to just say f*** off and takde your money after you've made the exchange. They've got the bigger gun, so they win in anarchy.

Originally Posted by Hercuflea

Yeah but under anarchy there is no reason for the person "providing" you with those military services to just say f*** off and takde your money after you've made the exchange. They've got the bigger gun, so they win in anarchy.

One: You can sue them for fraud.
Two: Say that does happen, you think that they can just keep on doing it without being noticed and therefore prevented in the future?
Three: What is stopping government from doing this? We've paid trillions of dollars and they couldn't even defend us on Sept 11th.

There is a simple answer. Personally I am a libertarian but I am not against minimal taxes. If we had a 1 percent sales tax, that went for funding government, and that it. I would be happy.

To answer your question though, you just do not have a standing army during peace time, and go with B. It doesn't matter if people create their own militia's. In fact that is a good thing. If you got half a dozen militia's in a state, they are all going to defend the area if it gets invaded.

Or everyone just buys there own gun. They say something like half the people in the US own one or more gun already. I am pretty sure, this is how laughing man expects a pure anarchist government to work. If everyone owns their own gun, then you do not need police or an army, as everyone can defend them self. If you get invaded everyone has a gun and can just join the voluntary militias and fight it out. Some guy starts causing trouble, you round up a posse and go catch him. Same thing works in a libertarian or anarchist government. The only real difference in that case, is what you do after wards, because there are no jails or anything in a pure anarchist government.

The basic difference between anarchy and libertarian is that a libertarian believes that a little organization will help everything run more smoothly. Taxation isn't theft however. Libertarianism believes in personal responsibility, and a fair and reasonable tax that is voted and agreed upon can exist.