As I sit here filling out silly papers which are to prove to the US government
that I didn't make too much money last year here in Japan, I am struck with a thought that strikes me often: what goddamn business is it of theirs how much I made last year!?
Wouldn't it be weird if a complete stranger from your town showed up at your door one morning and asked to be let in, join you for breakfast, and discuss the details of your bank account and yearly finances? Why is it any different or less creepy when an individual from an entity called "government" tries to do this?
Are these individuals who are "the government" special human beings with special rights, greater than the natrual human rights which we all share? What gives them the right to barge into your personal business, and then to add insult to injury, to take your money and spend it on things they want without so much as a squeak of approval or consent from you, the OWNER OF THE MONEY.
Shit is out of whack, folks. Severely. Putridly. Hatefully. Pervertedly. Murderously and HEINOUSLY, out of whack.
"Dear neighbor that I don't know that showed up at my house today to find out all kinds of personal information about my bank account, money, gold, possessions, and finances in general: by what authority or legitimate right do you assume to be justified in requesting such information? And why on earth have you threatened to beat me, cage me, and literally murder me if I do not provide it???
Neighbor's response: Taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilized society.
Well, if blowing up kids in Pakistan is your idea of "civilized," then you can go fuck yourself. Hell, even if forcing me to pay for some "public good" you want with violence is your idea of "civilized," you can still go fuck yourself.
Why I don't lose hope.
Our revolution, fellow voluntaryists, is a philosophical one, and an individual one. In fact, we've already won. Why? We stand on the side of love. Compassion. Reality. Individuals are waking up and changing every day. There is no possible way any one of us can solve or cure all the ills of this world taken from the overwhelming, mainstream media, fear-porn-war-mongering macro view of things, but on an individual, micro level, we've already got her pegged. Why? Because their is no way for a collective to replace an individual. And the macro view of things, and all collectives, could not and would not exist without individuals.
All it takes is one mind changing. One human deciding: You know what. I'm not going to pull this trigger anymore to shoot a stranger in a strange land I have never met. I am not going to continue working for this agency which steals money from people and calls it "civilized." I'm done. I refuse. I refuse to live a life based on violence and extortion, and am determined to find a more peaceful way. When my neighbor needs help, I am going to see what I can do, instead of immediately calling for more laws to be passed to help him, which depend on stealing from others to do so.
You may not be able to solve "world hunger," but you can feed your kids and help a neighbor who is down on his luck.
You may not be able to stop all wars and violence, but YOU can refuse to enlist.
You may not be able to stop the extortion and theft that is called taxation, but you can seek to do business in alternate manners, via alternate currencies and forms of trade.
You may even have to disobey and boldly say "NO" to the face of power. This is a deeply individual matter, and must be weighed seriously in one's heart, mind, and spirit.
One thing I know is, as the individual changes--as the "micro" changes--the collectives and "big picture," change by default. This is why the individual will remain forever superior to any idea of a forced collective. The individual is, in the most real sense that there is, god, incarnate.
What kind of hell or heaven do you wish to create?
~KafkA
Graham Smith is a Voluntaryist activist, creator, and peaceful parent residing in Niigata City, Japan. Graham runs the "Voluntary Japan" online initiative with a presence here on Steem, as well as DLive and Twitter. (Hit me up so I can stop talking about myself in the third person!)