Drinking and Anarchy go quite well together. Last Thursday, the Admiral spent a few good hours with his mental countrymen. We challenged the great governmental attitudes of the Haven gastropub by occupying a couple of tables and paying for all of our drinks and appetizers. During the evening we heard inspiring tales of construction and investment from our resident entrepreneurs for liberty (Mona and Alexander)! Which just proves that anarchists are not at all destructive.
Of course, paving the way toward a new society based on voluntary cooperation means we have some house cleaning to accomplish. So we hashed out some plans for future peaceful disobedience, and discussed various means of spreading the word through activism strategies. Since there's nothing quite like being around friends, we even sketched out some plans for the great Libertopia down south in San Diego.
After imbibing at Haven, we went to the streets and gracefully stumbled over to the District Lounge. Of course, we arrived thirsty and ordered more drinks. At the time of our arrival, the District had not yet received it's crowd of dance patrons, and we were able to dominate the scene with a center table of rousing discussion. Our tongues were quite loosened by that time, so we opened with announcements of which victim-less "crimes" we commit, from jaywalking, speeding, and drug dealing, to their ridiculous punishments.
As natural anarchists, we allowed discussion to meander into the infinite scale of the universe, possible locations for a liberty brunch, and the nanomechanical grey goo disassembly of our homes. We were the biggest scene in the bar at that time, the bartender took a curious interest in the group, and queried our organizer for more information. He of course politely admitted that we were "individuals who want either a smaller government or no government at all." With great bemusement and a welcoming smile, he verified his suspicions "So, you're just a bunch of drunken anarchists?" proving that bars everywhere enjoy our patronage!
We're all familiar with the stories of criminal fraud, scandalous waste, and senseless abuse wrought by governments around the world, but how often do we seriously reflect on the driving force that preserves this institution? I've noticed that every time I eat out the state of California gets 50 cents of my purchase. Being the most populated state in the imperial union, that kind of change really adds up. I'm not going to question here the various ways and means by which this money is wasted. Rather, I'm noticing that, as powerful we might think the government is, it doesn't (nor could it afford to) do it's own collection. And that means it obligates you (and businesses) to act as tax accountants and collectors.
I've done some transactions through craigslist and noticed they were all done through cash. The practice is so well established, that participants simply assume that's the currency of choice. I'm not reporting the money I have received for the stuff that I have sold (used goods mostly sell at a loss anyway), nor do I expect that other sellers report themselves to the government. It's a beautiful anarchy!
All of the transactions that I've engaged in have been low dollar items, where the cost of reporting outweighs any benefit. The government didn't take part in these voluntary exchanges and I see no reason it should get a percentage cut. To prove that point, simply observe that the government doesn't even know about the exchange unless one of the parties turns hirself in. And where's the benefit in that?
Of course salary is different. Because my employer reports my monthly earnings, that income is not invisible to the government accountants. In order to remain in business companies have to file with a government registry that ties them to a tax ID number. Simply by being registered, companies become taxable entities. Big brother even offers two prongs of a pitchfork to get cooperation. On one prong the company avoids a swat raid by reporting on itself, while on the other it can reduce taxable profits by reporting salaries paid to employees as an expense item. Once the company reports my salary as an expense, I have to report it as income or the government trolls will notice that the finances don't balance.
But the government doesn't offer any company or individual an accountant to track and record the taxes. Instead, they rely on self-reporting, in a clear violation of the 5th amendment. Consequently, multi-state and multi-national firms have armies of accountants trying to navigate all the ambiguous, conflicting, and self-inconsistent rules. Not only is the tax itself a clear expense, but the tracking and accounting is too!
Both the size and complexity of the tax code have experience exponential growth. But you can't use that as an excuse when they pre-determine some trumped up guilt and audit your ass. US government courts have ruled, in the 1987 case Boulez v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue that following advice from an IRS agent in order to clarify what must be reported is not enough to avoid self-incrimination. The IRS isn't liable if they tell you a wrongful interpretation of their own rules. But you are!
So why do we each report on our own activity? Especially, with the danger of self-incrimination?
If everyone in the country decided not to rat themselves out one year, the government wouldn't have even close to the prison space or police force to round us all up. With public opinion so anti-government, they wouldn't last as long as a snowflake in hell. I can only conclude that we don't do this because government has more organization than its citizenry.
Government retains a standing army of men with guns, and they will go after me if I neglect to line their pockets. Those officers have become inured to the injustice of the situation and think it's "just part of the job" to harass me, plus the revenue pays for their own salary and pension. We freemen haven't yet found a way to band enough people together in a tax strike, so that it outnumbers government's capacity for enforcement. In valuing freedom and independence, we lack a strong forceful mechanism that might prevent defection on the agreement to neglect payment of taxes.
There is a next best step. It fortunately remains wide open, and is getting wider. As individuals who value freedom, who are too lazy for diligent accounting, and who don't like paying a third of their income to the government that represses us all, we can simply more to the black market. Earn income through cash (or bitcoin!!) in ways the government doesn't track. Then, if you don't bother reporting it, government simply won't know.
If the government wants to collect your money, the accounting expense should be on them. Don't give them the free labor of self-reporting. Calculate your hourly salary, multiply by the hours you spend on their frustrating forms, and deduct it from your taxes. If the government needs your labor, they should be made to pay for it.
And now for something completely different! All this talk of the underground market has reminded the good Admiral of his pirating experiences chart(er)ing the wide accountan-cy.
Alas, the Admiral has been negligent in his writing activities! For I have been buried deep in R'lyeh, and it took the calling of freemen to convince me that I must venture forth among the landed statists.
We gathered ourselves at Starbucks in Brea, under the auspices of planning out some activism. In attendance, were some political representatives for a local chapter of Young Americans for Liberty, a representative from the Leadership Institute Adam Weinburg, and an enthusiastic rallier Freedom Frank. All of whom had good advice how to spread the word of liberty and freedom.
For example, it helps to be able to converse in such a way that you do not alarm the people around you. The conversation and spreading of liberty happens best when you are able to lead your statist friends down the garden path of freedom. Keep up the social appearances and conversational graces so that you do not become pigeonholed as "that crazy idealistic freedom guy". Depending on the receptivity of your audience, it may be counteractive to try and spread the message by sailing our ship of ideas around with the Jolly Roger Black Flag of Anarchism flying in full sight.
Much to The Admiral's delight, we convened such a large gathering of libertines (yes we did discuss moral subjectivism) that we ended up homesteading all of the outdoor furniture at Starbucks! About 20 people attended, and half were fully anarchist! Hip, hip, hurrah! If those minimalist sate people keep showing up we'll get them converted for sure.
To promote liberty, freedom, and voluntarism, we discussed how to better our conversational approach. The fellows at the Leadership Institute offer many mechanisms, and even host some media and communication training courses. According to Adam Weinber, "You can learn these techniques from your sworn enemies." The political strategy that works for the statists can surely be made to serve the purposes of freedom. My personal friend Terry (who braved the public transportation system for a few hours just to attend) also recommends that advertising libertarian ideas to Toastmasters is sure to smooth off some rough edges.
As a group we also think that events are great fun to attend. Any peaceful activity that rubs government the wrong way, but where the majority of people will be on your side against the state is great newsworthy advertisement. For example, Lemonade Freedom Day is coming up on Aug 10th.
Sell lemonade on the street corner.
Get shut down or arrested.
Profit Promote Liberty
Go Robin Hooding by paying off expired parking meters so that innocent people can avoid an expensive fine. Prevent city hall from extorting those funds!
Of course, given the prevalence of anarchists that attended, we also strayed off topic and into areas of moral subjectivism, the self-inconsistency of the term"intellectual property" which of course completely justifies learning promotion tactics from our political adversaries, alternative currencies and the nature of market competition for money itself.
It's truly amazing to see so much intellectual wealth voluntarily shared! When you go out there to advertise, make sure to use the tag #LiveFreeOC so that everyone can see the excitement of the limelight!
