[extropy-chat] Sheiks and sex (was OIL: Albertan tar sands)

[Charlie Stross]

On 17 Sep 2005, at 03:15, Mike Lorrey wrote:
>
> You also can't complain about taxes taken from those who believe in
> taxes. Statists do not enjoy the protection of the non-initiation  
> principle.

Y'know something, I was going to let this slide -- but you had to  
stick it right up my nose.

"X does not enjoy the protection of law Y because they do not believe  
in law Y" (let's strip it right out of the context of libertarian  
ideology and generalize it) is a really dangerous principle. Either  
you're talking about a general law, in which case it applies to  
everyone, or it's not a law; it's a group agreement among a bunch of  
insiders, and -- hey! -- you've invented another group who are  
explicitly outside your law because you pinned a label on them.

(Plus, my take on the non-initiation principle is that it's far too  
easy to turn inside out.  There are forms of coercive behavior that  
don't require guns, knives, or fists, after all, some of them are so  
insidious that you don't realize you're being coerced at first: that  
nice cheap inkjet printer, for example -- how were you to know that  
it costs an arm and a leg to replace the print cartridges and by  
opening the box you agreed that you wouldn't try to refill the one  
that came with it? Or: that nice peaceful gated community, how were  
you to know that the clause about "accepted community standards"  
would be used to threaten you with eviction if you dyed your hair blue?)

Personally, I believe in taxes. They beat the alternative hollow ...


-- Charlie