tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post5715773671789269933..comments2024-03-17T11:05:22.464+00:00Comments on The Life And Opinions of Andrew Rilstone: Semantic InterludeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-16670763744102248152011-09-13T09:49:07.245+01:002011-09-13T09:49:07.245+01:00As I understand it, a 19th century Prussian argume...As I understand it, a 19th century Prussian argument in favour of universal conscription was that it made the army a genuine citizen army. A state like Britain (then and now) with a purely volunteer army was in fact hiring mercenaries. Okay, it was arbitrarily limiting its choice of mercenaries to its own citizens (let's ignore the Gurkhas, shall we?), but it's still paying people who see fighting as a career to do its killing for it.<br /><br />(Hence we probably read Housman's "Epitaph for an Army of Mercenaries" all wrong.)<br /><br />It's kind of logical. You just have to regard a militarised state as an acceptable price to pay.<br /><br />And by the way, no, I don't see taxation as theft. But you do have to accept that living in a country implies broad assent to its systems and institutions. Which obliges me to see free international movement of peoples as morally quite important. It gives people at least some option to withdraw their assent.Phil Mastershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12533451060065715833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-91081523610945793752011-09-11T12:30:02.027+01:002011-09-11T12:30:02.027+01:00"I suppose that they might have had a point; ..."I suppose that they might have had a point; if I pay your mercenaries double to kill you instead then there's a pretty reasonable chance that they might do it, but if I pay your doctor double to remove your ears and then reattach them to your hips then he will almost certainly say no."<br /><br />On the other hand...if I pay my doctor everytime I have a consult or an operation (either directly or through an insurance company) it could be that he will find increasing numbers of things wrong with me. If my Doctor receives a set salary from the state, he probably won't. So is that an argument for both public health AND public defense.Nick Mazonowiczhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01672027642700116849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-36890309152639173302011-09-11T10:04:05.770+01:002011-09-11T10:04:05.770+01:00The best analogy I can think of is with the comman...The best analogy I can think of is with the commandments 'thou shalt not steal' and 'thou shall do no murder'. A soldier in battle, a public hangman carrying a court sentence into execution and a police officer sor bank guard hooting an armed robber are not 'murderers', but this does not mean that aggressive wars, capital punishment or trigger happiness are a good thing.Richard Worthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09025201422909987658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-13250286821954611322011-09-10T22:04:18.128+01:002011-09-10T22:04:18.128+01:00There is a case that democracy is dictatorship by ...There is a case that democracy is dictatorship by the majority, and therefore taxation is reducing your freedom as an individual to act outside the power of the state. If for example your taxes pay for state schools which leave you so poor that no one could afford a private school , you cede your children's education to what the state chooses to teach them. There is a case for reducing the state to a bare function of defence and justice on the basis that Dickensian Britain was a powerful, prosperous, civilised nation where health, education etc was largely charitable and society didn't fall apart: however, the Irish potato famine is arguably this philosophy taken to a logical conclusion.Richard Worthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09025201422909987658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-2494375558644252142011-09-10T20:56:10.012+01:002011-09-10T20:56:10.012+01:00I suppose that they might have had a point; if I p...I suppose that they might have had a point; if I pay your mercenaries double to kill you instead then there's a pretty reasonable chance that they might do it, but if I pay your doctor double to remove your ears and then reattach them to your hips then he will almost certainly say no.Paul Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09247954135752131284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-41639028531203242762011-09-10T17:29:53.681+01:002011-09-10T17:29:53.681+01:00Quite
I did try arguing that if you say that you ...Quite<br /><br />I did try arguing that if you say that you should have the freedom to chose your own form of health care, why should you not have the freedom to chose your own form of defence. My friend replied that this is because mercanaries are untrustworthy. But he still couldn't tell me why I wasn't entitled to make this choice for myself.Nick Mazonowiczhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01672027642700116849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-50725195919633169292011-09-10T14:25:52.292+01:002011-09-10T14:25:52.292+01:00Culfy, I've seen it argued in all earnestness ...Culfy, I've seen it argued in all earnestness that since in Romans 13, the only function of the state that St. Paul mentions is the exercise of violence, then that is the only legitimate function of the state. So taxation to support police, prisons, the military, etc. is legitimate, but taxation to support social welfare, roads, levies, etc. is theft. It is a most peculiar reading of The Apostle, but it is, I guess, consistent. (American evangelicals these days are increasingly articulating the opinion that social welfare should come from the Church, from the generosity of the individual, or failing that, from no one at all.)AndrewSshihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12092217847584427587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-70142022014010728112011-09-09T17:36:33.813+01:002011-09-09T17:36:33.813+01:00I once had a friend who insisted that taxation was...I once had a friend who insisted that taxation was theft <i>except for a notional 10% to be used only for defense</i>Nick Mazonowiczhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01672027642700116849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-24230976562199630262011-09-08T10:10:25.738+01:002011-09-08T10:10:25.738+01:00The arguement actually seems to boil down to '...The arguement actually seems to boil down to 'Taxing me is theft, taxing the lumpen proletariat is valuable because it cements their position in society.'NickPheashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06650111383223877362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-63215429624623907312011-09-08T10:09:22.096+01:002011-09-08T10:09:22.096+01:00This comment has been removed by the author.NickPheashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06650111383223877362noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9987513.post-29490923628779230672011-09-08T07:36:24.482+01:002011-09-08T07:36:24.482+01:00Taxation (in democracies) is not taking something ...Taxation (in democracies) is not taking something without permission; it's just that the permission is expressed collectively at the ballot box and not individually.Dr Ploktahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09875119296048013137noreply@blogger.com