worse than hypocrisy
Stephan Kinsella and I were just chatting about baby stuff, and I told him that we knew someone who ran a blackmarket daycare -- something we're both in favor of, obviously.
Kinsella said, however, that he hates it when lefties (actually he used a different L-word, but I refuse to do so) "use babysitters, nannies, yardboys, etc., and pay them under the table, the f@#&ing hypocrites." (No, he didn't really curse in comic-strip format.)
I think it's a tough call when lefties avoid taxes. Yes it's hypocrisy, but it's still better than giving more money to the state. The state uses resources to increase its coercive power. Better to keep those resources in the world of voluntary exchange where wealth is created rather than destroyed.
So what should we root for leftwing social democrats to do? (Or rightwing social democrats, for that matter.) Should they do the moral thing and cheat or should they act with integrity and do the immoral thing instead?
I think what would be ideal is if they calculate what they owe to the state, according to their own sense of socialist obligation, but then give that amount to me instead.
Kinsella said, however, that he hates it when lefties (actually he used a different L-word, but I refuse to do so) "use babysitters, nannies, yardboys, etc., and pay them under the table, the f@#&ing hypocrites." (No, he didn't really curse in comic-strip format.)
I think it's a tough call when lefties avoid taxes. Yes it's hypocrisy, but it's still better than giving more money to the state. The state uses resources to increase its coercive power. Better to keep those resources in the world of voluntary exchange where wealth is created rather than destroyed.
So what should we root for leftwing social democrats to do? (Or rightwing social democrats, for that matter.) Should they do the moral thing and cheat or should they act with integrity and do the immoral thing instead?
I think what would be ideal is if they calculate what they owe to the state, according to their own sense of socialist obligation, but then give that amount to me instead.
2 Comments:
I think it's funny that Stephan still speaks as though the left is more pro-tax than the right.
I'm gonna take the position that acting ethically (in this case it's by not paying taxes) is the default, & the inconsistancy only arises when they support the welfare state. This frees you to scorn them when it's proper to, without you having to yell "aha! hypocrite!" every time they refrain from threatening violence against other people. You wouldn't want to discourage their peaceful impulses.
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