Dear Fellow AnCaps.
By Friendly
anarchism.swohio@gmail.com
Money cannot be our guiding principle. Yes, I know that the Austrian school provides the most accurate model of the economy. Yes, taxation is extortion. Yes, I understand that the Rule of Acquisition 166 clearly states--
There is more to be gained fighting the state than by anarchist identity politics. The goal of anarcho-capitalism is the freedom. It’s not the money, it’s what we do with the money. It’s freeing markets to help people.
I am reading this article by Justin King (Price gouging, anarcho-capitalism, water, and ‘Florida man’[1]), he’s talking about the intellectual detachment of ancaps regarding those in a disaster area.
Now this isn’t true of all yellow and black anarchists. I know quite a few who spent today helping people. They didn’t charge them for a boat ride. They were focused on what their boat could bear rather than the market. They were focused more on the “anarcho” part of anarcho-capitalism. Be like them.
Yes, markets are the most efficient, impartial apparatus for rationing scarce resources. Yes, government/centralized distribution is riddled with cronyism. Yes, I understand high prices are a market signal that there is a supply vacuum.[2]
The goal of free markets is conveying goods to people who need them in the least expensive method possible. Sometimes, the least expensive packaging is still cost prohibitive.[3] This is why people cry for handouts from the government. “Give us food stamps! Give us welfare! Give us free things!” It is correct to decry these programs as “Roman bread” to buy placidity and votes. It is better to provide an alternative.
Economically disadvantaged people should be cared for. When non-state actors provide generosity the state monopolizes, it demonstrates that social responsibility does not have to be forced through taxation.
I have this wonderful stamp that I bought on Zazzle.[4] As often as I can get down to the bank, I withdraw a bunch of one dollar FRNs. I stamp them “Taxation is Theft”. My wife finds the ritual charming. I stamp all these bills and release them however I can: I give the bills to beggars, the homeless, I buy groceries with them, I tip servers high and hard.[5]
I am happy to give money to the needy. They’ll read the stamp, they’ll use the cash in an untaxed manner. Even if I don’t have a stamped dollar, I still try to erode dependence on the state with charity.
Throughout the year, I donate wherever I can. I keep the receipts. I write them off on my taxes: I get money back, charities continue to run, the government is denied blood money. It’s win-win-win.
I know a lot of anarcho-capitalists/voluntaryists/libertarians with Christian backgrounds. Even if the modern church is a decaying corpse and Rothbard (PBUH) is our new lord and savior, I think we can all agree that Jesus is pretty great because he heartily helped the poor and downtrodden.
We must help each other if the state is to be abolished. I’m not trying to virtue signal, so I will author this with a pseudonym. I’m trying to provide examples of concrete ways that generosity can be used to corrode the iron grip of authority strangling hearts and minds: Morality is where cold logic and hot emotion combine.
“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” -R. Buckminster Fuller
[1]"Price gouging, anarcho-capitalism, water, and ‘Florida man’" 30 Aug. 2017, http://justinking.org/price-gouging-anarcho-capitalism-water-and-florida-man/ . Accessed 30 Aug. 2017.
[2] Good example of the Great Material Continuum.
[3] Yes, I understand that the current alphabet soup of regulatory agencies is much less than a truly free market.
[4] "Taxation Is Theft 2" x 2" Rubber Stamp | Zazzle." 11 Jul. 2016, https://www.zazzle.com/taxation_is_theft_2_x_2_rubber_stamp-256436766013355109. Accessed 30 Aug. 2017.
[5] If you tip half in credit/debit and half in cash, the books stay clean and the tips are taxed lower.
(Freelance article submission from Friendly)
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