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Ron Paul Forums launching National Tax Resistance Campaign

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liberty student Posted: Mon, Sep 22 2008 1:16 PM

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=157055

It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

Like the Paulies or not, they definitely know how to organize and they don't lack for passion.

 

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liberty student:

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=157055

It will be interesting to see what comes of this.

Like the Paulies or not, they definitely know how to organize and they don't lack for passion.

 

Okay, first the League of Non-Voters, & now this?  I'm intrigued but not convinced...

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Nitroadict:
Okay, first the League of Non-Voters, & now this?  I'm intrigued but not convinced...

Libertarians/Anarchists/Objectivists seem to think the Paul movement(s) are waiting for their blessing or approval.

I don't think the Ron Paulies care. 

They don't wait.  They just try to do stuff.  Certainly a bold and courageous idea if they can pull it off.

Those damn vulgar libertarians.  Leading the way again!

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Wren replied on Mon, Sep 22 2008 1:28 PM

I don't think much will come of this.  It'd be way more effective if this didn't originate from Ron Paul supporters but instead from a general non-partisan group, and if it were the main cause.  RP supporters have been all over the place in terms of activities, but I doubt they have achieved much.

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liberty student:

Nitroadict:
Okay, first the League of Non-Voters, & now this?  I'm intrigued but not convinced...

Libertarians/Anarchists/Objectivists seem to think the Paul movement(s) are waiting for their blessing or approval.

I don't think the Ron Paulies care. 

They don't wait.  They just try to do stuff.  Certainly a bold and courageous idea if they can pull it off.

Those damn vulgar libertarians.  Leading the way again!

I think its great.

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scineram replied on Mon, Sep 22 2008 2:32 PM

Brave, but stupid. What makes income taxation illegal? And do not get me started on natural law.

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John Ess replied on Mon, Sep 22 2008 2:56 PM

I don't see what good will come of it.  They'll just be thrown in jail.

Or, like Karl Hess, disallowed to make monetary transactions.

Libertarianism is not about dodging taxes but opposing the violence of the state.  Any time someone says that people are "cheating on taxes" someone makes a new bill that "closes the loopholes" to steal more. 

Think of the cost-benefit.  I don't think it works out to a win.  For that matter, neither did the "demonstrations" of anarcho-collectivists at the RNC.  As ballsy as it was.  Fear is something the government doesn't live with -- and never will.  It's a disproportion of power that defines it.  Fear, though, is demonstrated by those who beg the government for liberty.

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JCFolsom replied on Mon, Sep 22 2008 3:18 PM

Wren:
I don't think much will come of this.  It'd be way more effective if this didn't originate from Ron Paul supporters but instead from a general non-partisan group, and if it were the main cause.  RP supporters have been all over the place in terms of activities, but I doubt they have achieved much.

Well, I am one person, among what I believe is a great number, who was only really introduced to libertarianism through Ron Paul. We libertarians may still be a minority, but we are a much larger minority than we were before Ron Paul and his campaign. I differ with him and them at this point as well, but the impact has been huge.

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liberty student:

Nitroadict:
Okay, first the League of Non-Voters, & now this?  I'm intrigued but not convinced...

Libertarians/Anarchists/Objectivists seem to think the Paul movement(s) are waiting for their blessing or approval.

I don't think the Ron Paulies care. 

They don't wait.  They just try to do stuff.  Certainly a bold and courageous idea if they can pull it off.

Those damn vulgar libertarians.  Leading the way again!

I don't remember generalizing all RP'ers as all vulgar libertarians (I might generalized them as political reformists, however). 

I also do not remember seeing any prominent LewRockwell posters at said RP forum proposing such ideas.  It can easily be said that the RP'ers have been trumping them, by large in part, by showing the ability to self-organize beyond cheerleading by the LRC blog.  It's much more important that they were busy badmouthing the "vandarchists", instead. 

The "not convinced part" had nothing to do with an approved viewpoint or approved philosophy on their part, but everything to do with "will their following translate into tangible results".  

I wish them the best of luck, as this is a very risky (but, most likely necessary) undertaking. 

Hopefully their League of Non-Voters gets off the ground, as I wouldn't mind registering if it exists beyond a good community forum (& pre-registered domain name, afaik) idea.


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John Ess:

I don't see what good will come of it.  They'll just be thrown in jail.

Or, like Karl Hess, disallowed to make monetary transactions.

Libertarianism is not about dodging taxes but opposing the violence of the state.  Any time someone says that people are "cheating on taxes" someone makes a new bill that "closes the loopholes" to steal more. 

Think of the cost-benefit.  I don't think it works out to a win.  For that matter, neither did the "demonstrations" of anarcho-collectivists at the RNC.  As ballsy as it was.  Fear is something the government doesn't live with -- and never will.  It's a disproportion of power that defines it.  Fear, though, is demonstrated by those who beg the government for liberty.


A further ballsier move on the RP'ers that follow this tax resistience would be to disable the government's advantages of disabling their ability to make monetary transactions (via alternative currencies such as self-made labor notes & bartering).  However, that would assume a good concentration of RP'ers are either organized enough online to create some sort of online version of labor notes & bartering (which would be quite an abstraction to tackle), or they are concentrated in a local community to the point of bursting, where such bartering & labor notes would be viable (i.e. The Free State Project, but they are well beneath their quota of amount of people).

FYI, it wasn't all anarcho-collectivists at the RNC.  Market Anarchists also made their (offline) debut there (w/ a flag as well), and despite some uneasiness with other anarcho flavors, were obviously welcomed to the protest.  I forget the source for this (it was a blog), but I will post it here when I find it amid the swamp that is my bookmarks...

I think the protests at the RNC was a good first step if there will be more; I will be fairly disappointed if none follow it, however.

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Nitroadict:
I don't remember generalizing all RP'ers as all vulgar libertarians (I might generalized them as political reformists, however).

Not directed specifically at you.  Sorry.

Nitroadict:
I also do not remember seeing any prominent LewRockwell posters at said RP forum proposing such ideas.  It can easily be said that the RP'ers have been trumping them, by large in part, by showing the ability to self-organize beyond cheerleading by the LRC blog.  It's much more important that they were busy badmouthing the "vandarchists", instead.

Vandarchists suck, the RNC was an embarassment.  As FSK said on his blog, if you're apolitical, why would you protest a political gathering?  What next, anarchists gunna start voting?

Not that I want to get into that discussion now, but the tactics of the Vandarchists suck, they had no right to damage private property.

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liberty student:

Nitroadict:
I don't remember generalizing all RP'ers as all vulgar libertarians (I might generalized them as political reformists, however).

Not directed specifically at you.  Sorry.

Nitroadict:
I also do not remember seeing any prominent LewRockwell posters at said RP forum proposing such ideas.  It can easily be said that the RP'ers have been trumping them, by large in part, by showing the ability to self-organize beyond cheerleading by the LRC blog.  It's much more important that they were busy badmouthing the "vandarchists", instead.

Vandarchists suck, the RNC was an embarassment.  As FSK said on his blog, if you're apolitical, why would you protest a political gathering?  What next, anarchists gunna start voting?

Not that I want to get into that discussion now, but the tactics of the Vandarchists suck, they had no right to damage private property.

Perhaps they reasoned they were protesting politics & that they felt that the corporations right to property wasn't legitimate?

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Stranger replied on Mon, Sep 22 2008 4:10 PM

As I said in a two-stage strategy for freedom, there are much safer forms of resistance than tax resistance that we can start with. I wish them good luck.

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scineram replied on Mon, Sep 22 2008 4:15 PM

Nitroadict:
Perhaps they reasoned they were protesting politics & that they felt that the corporations right to property wasn't legitimate?
And not just them, indeed.

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Nitroadict:
Perhaps they reasoned they were protesting politics & that they felt that the corporations right to property wasn't legitimate?

Embarassing and shameful.

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liberty student:

Nitroadict:
Perhaps they reasoned they were protesting politics & that they felt that the corporations right to property wasn't legitimate?

Embarassing and shameful.


Why?

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Start a new thread please.

And

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Start a new thread please.

And it's sad that you have to ask why

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liberty student:

Start a new thread please.

And it's sad that you have to ask why

Are you assuming I'm defending them?  I'm simply asking for a more in-depth answer other than "Embrassing & shameful", I don't see what's so sad about that.

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JCFolsom replied on Mon, Sep 22 2008 5:07 PM

liberty student:
Embarassing and shameful.

All modern corporations are quasi-governmental agencies, legally-established entities with ablities and natures unattainable in a true free market. The periodic bailouts of automobile and aviation industries should be proof enough of that. That, and, particularly in the case of shipping, the fact the centralized and remote production from which a corp like Macy's gets its inventory is only possible because the bulk of its transportation costs are carried in socialized roads. The idea that they are free market institutions is a lie perpetuated for its usefulness. Firstly, it deflects the natural resentment that people have towards the unnatural concentration of capital away from the government that is truly behind it. Secondly, for that reason and especially when things go wrong, it allows government to set itself up as an alternative that will fix things, justifying Leviathan's growth.

Truly private enterprise and the conduct of business between individuals is the free market, not huge quasi-governmental corporate Leviathan-spawn. Burn the f-ers down.

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Vandarchy discussion continued here.

 

http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/3880.aspx

 

I'd like to keep this thread open for developments with the tax resistance movement.  There can be a lot learned from it's planning, success/failure etc.

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majevska replied on Mon, Sep 22 2008 7:34 PM

Well I think this is great! The downside is that they are focusing on it being illegal and unconstitutional, but that doesnt stop some of us from going about cooperating with this effort and bringing more of an anarchist perspective into it. The armband thing is really great marketing and has the potential to really catch on. I feel like this has quite a nice revolutionary vibe to it, much more so than a presidential campaign. I live close enough to go to the DC rally when it happens, so I guess Im in.

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ChaseCola replied on Tue, Sep 23 2008 12:10 AM

cool beans.

 "The plans differ; the planners are all alike"

-Bastiat

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All of a sudden after reading this I'm slightly more sympathetic to the Ron Paul movement and the political means in general. I'll be very interested to see how this turns out and to see if it extends beyond the RP crowd.

"You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows"

Bob Dylan

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