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Inspired in part by one of Prufrock's recent posts, I had to sit down and type something out that has only recently moved from nebulous "I know this bothers me, but I'm not entirely sure why yet" status to "No wait a minute!" territory.
I can understand the Libertarian philosophy of government being a necessary evil that should be restricted to the absolute minimum set of powers needed in order to prevent a country from being absorbed by hostile neighbors, but lately I keep coming across something that I need clarification on.
I keep seeing taxation described as the government taking money from its citizens at gunpoint (since we don't have a way of legally opting out of taxes,) almost always in the context of discussing why some government programs are funding things that shouldn't be any of the government's business to begin with. I can understand the reasoning behind that, even if I disagree.
But what about defense? If taxation is wrong, period, then how are we supposed to pay for all the equipment and training that the military needs in order to be able to defend us? How are we supposed to be able to pay for the salaries of the police, or the fire department, or the people who patch the roads so that our cars aren't swallowed by potholes? Since (as far as I can recall) I have yet to see taxation in order to pay for these things being described as wrong, is it that Libertarians are in favor of armed governmental theft (to use the characterisation of taxes I keep seeing Libertarians use) in order to pay the people who protect us from the thieves outside of government, or is it that they favor finding other ways of paying the protectors, but just haven't written about it in a medium that I have encountered?
How do we reconcile the need to pay people to defend us with a belief that the taxation that provides the money for their salaries is wrong?
I can understand the Libertarian philosophy of government being a necessary evil that should be restricted to the absolute minimum set of powers needed in order to prevent a country from being absorbed by hostile neighbors, but lately I keep coming across something that I need clarification on.
I keep seeing taxation described as the government taking money from its citizens at gunpoint (since we don't have a way of legally opting out of taxes,) almost always in the context of discussing why some government programs are funding things that shouldn't be any of the government's business to begin with. I can understand the reasoning behind that, even if I disagree.
But what about defense? If taxation is wrong, period, then how are we supposed to pay for all the equipment and training that the military needs in order to be able to defend us? How are we supposed to be able to pay for the salaries of the police, or the fire department, or the people who patch the roads so that our cars aren't swallowed by potholes? Since (as far as I can recall) I have yet to see taxation in order to pay for these things being described as wrong, is it that Libertarians are in favor of armed governmental theft (to use the characterisation of taxes I keep seeing Libertarians use) in order to pay the people who protect us from the thieves outside of government, or is it that they favor finding other ways of paying the protectors, but just haven't written about it in a medium that I have encountered?
How do we reconcile the need to pay people to defend us with a belief that the taxation that provides the money for their salaries is wrong?
