I’m Ignoring Them as Fast as I Can

“Here’s a cheery thought on this gloomy Tax Day: government is one of the few problems that can be gotten rid of by ignoring it. In this respect it compares favourably with such hardier ills as tornadoes, swarming piranhas, and male pattern baldness.

There’s a catch, of course. If only a few people ignore the government, it won’t go away; instead it will come down on those few people like a ton of CS gas. But if the number of people ignoring the government – treating its commands as one would treat the commands of some delusional street person – were to reach critical mass, the power of the state, resting essentially as it does on the complaisance of the governed, would melt away like butter in the Arizona sun. As Étienne de la Boétie wrote in his classic essay “Discourse of Voluntary Servitude” (read it online or buy it):

“Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break into pieces.”

From a Roderick T. Long post titled “Just Ignore Them.” (The permalink for the post is currently pointing elsewhere so you may have to scroll to Long’s post.)

I haven’t read de la Boetie’s piece, yet, but I will by the end of the day.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 04/15 at 06:14 AM

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Smileys

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below:


Next entry: Rissin, Frissin, Frassin Taxes Anyway

Previous entry: Impressions of a Floating City

<< Back to main