I oppose government taxation and regulation. I oppose government interfering in voluntary transactions among consenting adults. None of these intrusions are within the proper role of government.
The only proper role of government is to protect individual rights — meaning life, liberty, and property. The vast majority of what government does is outside of this scope.
The voluntary and consensual interactions of others do not violate your rights. Who a business chooses to hire doesn’t violate your rights. These things may annoy you or displease you or make you uncomfortable, but they don’t violate your rights. Government violates your rights. It does so through taxation and redistribution, and it also does so through regulation and the criminalization of victimless acts.
Some people argue that government regulation is justified for one reason or another. They claim that regulations are necessary to protect safety or promote the type of society they prefer. Or they claim that someone’s presumed propensity for accepting government benefits justifies preemptively restricting their freedom.
Two wrongs don’t make a right, though, and trying to use government regulation of individual choice to indirectly limit government redistribution isn’t just wrong, it won’t work. Government doesn’t engage in redistribution out of benevolence. Government engages in redistribution because breeding dependency is how government increases its power. Redistribution isn’t a gift. It’s a trap. And many people fall for it.
The ironic thing is that regulations can also be a trap. Maybe money isn’t your weakness. You don’t want a government handout. Okay… How about some control? Maybe that’s your motivation. You don’t like how fast people drive, the parades they throw, or what color your neighbor painted his house. Government can fix that for you.
Or maybe control isn’t your primary desire. Maybe it’s safety. Life is scary. Diseases everywhere. Fast cars, loud noises, unpleasant odors, and people with scary weapons. No problem. Trust government. It will fix those problems for you. A little regulation here. A ban or two over there. A few more armed government mercenaries on patrol.
Do you see the game? Government grows in power whenever you accept the violation of your rights in exchange for whatever you value more. And yet, what do you really gain from the trade? People will still find ways to annoy you. Life will still be full of risks, and ultimately, you will still die. But instead of dying a free man, you’ll die in a prison of your own creation, caged by the very government you helped grow.
Benjamin Franklin cautioned against trading liberty for safety, but the warning applies equally to anything you value. Whatever it may be, I assure you that liberty matters more. Nothing is more valuable than freedom.
Government isn’t the solution. It’s the problem.
“The most important thing in this world is liberty. More important than food or clothes — more important than gold or houses or lands — more important than art or science — more important than all religions, is the liberty of man.” — Robert G. Ingersoll
