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Re: Consent of the Governed & the Legitimacy of Government

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Uploaded by on Jun 25, 2007

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Uploader Comments (XOmniverse)

  • There are two separate issues here: the legitimacy of government and the legitimacy of taxation. Hierarchically, in changing from current to future state, Rand emphasized retrenching government to its proper role as the primary, with the issue of voluntary financing being easily solved after illegitimate expenses were eliminated.

  • This doesn't address the issue that, for a state to exist, it has to initiate force to prevent competition from arising.

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  • bump!

    But if most people made a deal with "Dick's protection Inc." that they would just go and steal rich peoples money(which is the moral norm of today)and give them to poor slackers, then what could "Bob's" do for you, the moral one, so that your property would be safe. Yes, they could always war against Dick's, but there is no way of saying that the moral cause of "Bob's" would win.

    Why would Bob's be interested in morality, if the immoral guy would pay him more?

  • And there it is: objectivism sanctions the initiation of force to stop people from seeking alternative ways of ensuring protection.

  • It still thrills me a little to find people like you (although I don't understand you assigning moral terminology to actions).

  • I can't address that briefly with comments, so I'll need to make a video.

  • That is what I was thinking...

    Or just a bully.

  • "Bob would have become de fact a War Lord becoming rich and powerful."

    So, Bob became a state then? :)

  • You'd probably say that you'd go to another protection agency. But what if Bob's became so big that it became hard or impossible to do that? What if Bob's agency refused to listen to arbitration from the community? Bob would have become de fact a War Lord becoming rich and powerful. I could think of other scenarios.

  • XO, you were wonderfully lucid here. I like your analogy of the homeless guy washing your car window without your consent then charging you for it.

    A scenari though - what if Bob charged you but didn't deliver his service, just took your money, would not pay insurance, and actually became threatening when you said you'd pay no more?

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