"Thou Shalt Not Steal."

Note the simplicity and directness of the precept. No exceptions are cited in the surrounding passages. I don't see, "Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote." I don't see, "Thou shalt not steal, except to fund the local police and the armed forces commissioned to defend your nation's borders." I don't see, "Thou shalt not steal, except by vote of your duly elected representatives who have sworn an oath to uphold a constitution limiting their powers to steal."

The problem with conservatives, Birchers, minarchists, Constitutionalists and, indeed, most professed libertarians is that they accept a certain "minimal" level of government as necessary and good. They therefore accept a certain "minimal" level of taxation--a certain "minimal" level of legalized theft, threats and extortion--as necessary and good. Government and taxation have formed part of the status quo for so long they trump this simple moral precept. The only legitimate discussion then becomes "just" limits of the protection racket.

I'll have no part of it. The rules governing human behavior ought to apply to people within the government as well as they apply to those outside it. Not only do I regard anarcho-capitalism, aka natural order, aka market anarchy, as consistent with fair play, human decency and Christian morality, it's the only political-economic system that can be consistent. All the others require a measure of legally sanctioned theft, threats, extortion and violence.

Tony