Complaining... it's something everyone seems to love to do. In fact, almost any political position known to man can be reduced to the act of complaining. The liberals complain that people do not want to give everything they own to some charity so that mankind may have equal living standards. The conservatives may complain that others don't want to give enough of their money to the military... the libertarians complain that both the conservatives and liberals want to steal from everyone else... and the list goes on... but in reality, who has "the right" to complain?
In order to answer this question to the best of my ability, I feel it important to share a realization that I made recently here, and that is, politics itself is a game... a fantasy... the very word politics, in my opinion, was invented to replace the words "abstract ethics" so that sophists could avoid pointing out that it really is a question of ethics... they would rather have people debating over what should be done with tax money than debating whether or not tax money is ethical. This debate over what to do with tax money is essentially what is known as political science.
By calling the questions pertaining to how government should rule politics, and the study of the topic political science, nobody is studying the ethical issues. So let's attempt that briefly here.
Any law passed is the State saying: If you do (or don't do) ______, then you will be thrown in a cage. Some of these laws are justifiable and some are not. Here are a few examples of some justifiable laws:
If you murder someone, then you will be thrown in a cage.
If you set someone's property on fire, you will be thrown in a cage.
If you steal from someone, rape someone, assault someone, you will be thrown in a cage.
This list goes on. These laws are justifiable because they all involve the criminal infringing on the property of other people.
Here are a few laws that are not justified:
If you do not give us your money, you will be thrown in a cage.
If you open a restaurant without permission, you will be forced to close it, fined, and possibly thrown in a cage.
If you do not drive how we'd like you to, you will be thrown in a cage.
If you possess drugs which are not on the list of being acceptable, or use a prescription drug in a manner other than prescribed, you will be thrown in cage.
These laws are not justifiable because the criminal in question has not infringed upon the rights of others. Indeed, others have infringed upon his property.
In any just society, laws are rules which involve one person infringing upon the property of another; property including the person's body, as self-ownership is where property stems from. In such a society, the State cannot possibly exist since tax money would be unjust.
So who has a right to complain? Why, everyone does. Everyone is taxed or suffers from the problems involved with taxation, i.e. loss of economic opportunities.
So, how can we say there are some who do not have the right to complain? I wouldn't say they don't have the right to complain, but I would say that they shouldn't complain. Those who hear these basic truths and understand them and whom still advocate the government tax others in favor of what they want should not complain. Those who stick their head in the sand to the truth should not complain...
As I get older and write more of these blogs and talk to people, more and more every day I believe that at some point everyone gets hit with truth... it is simply too easy to dismiss and forget about it. I write this blog because someone close to me recently told me that since my position is unpopular, I have no right to be offended with the views of others.
Let's check that. The view of most people is that should I fail to pay taxes that help pay to blow up innocent people and throw more innocent people in jail cells, I deserve to go jail myself and possibly get raped and be ruined economically for violating the law.
What is my view? My view is simple: nobody should be forced to pay for anything they don't want to pay for. You don't like the wars, don't pay for them. If those fighting them have a problem with your failure to pay, well, quite frankly, they never asked you how you felt about it and when push comes to shove, they can refuse to protect you. If you do not want to give to charity, you shouldn't be forced to... doesn't mean the people in your community won't lose respect for you, it just means stealing is wrong.
So to say the person complaining about the theft and violence has no right to complain and try to convince others to behave more peacefully because their view is unpopular, well, I find that quite insane. The only way this even occurs is because of the words politics and political science, as mentioned above.
Let's be honest, nobody makes excuses for private criminals. If a homeless person stabs me for money to feed his family, I would insist he goes to jail. First off, beg. Do not tell me the only alternative was to stab me. Second, while I am sympathetic to homeless people, see first point. I've known many of them and they did not steal to eat.
So, who let's criminals off the hook who shoot innocent people while they're trying to take out a bad guy? Maybe that can be understandable... how about say a criminal who blows up an entire building with all kinds of innocent people in it to get one bad guy?
Suppose a criminal didn't like the way his neighbor treated his kids... he abused them let's say. Who's letting this guy off the hook for cutting his neighbor off from food and medical care for those same kids? anyone?
Call it politics, political science, and countries, and you will find different answers with the same questions.
I realize this blog is scattered and unorganized and all that, but it's my blog and I am awfully short on time since I have kids and everything... leave a comment if you disagree or feel you have anything to say on the topic...
