tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560636882691523439.post1289442081866653766..comments2024-03-21T20:29:29.030+13:00Comments on Life Behind the <u>IR</u>on <u>D</u>rape: Hans Fallada, Russel Norman & the Snitch Society; the Burden of New Zealand’s Tax Surveillance State.Mark Hubbardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02541153163041831880noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560636882691523439.post-71402787080565593922013-12-24T14:07:03.743+13:002013-12-24T14:07:03.743+13:00The film "My beautiful Laundrette' can be...The film "My beautiful Laundrette' can be read as a socialist-business/freemarket fable for those who can see it.<br />MAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560636882691523439.post-30964792768569872092013-09-29T12:49:28.985+13:002013-09-29T12:49:28.985+13:00Yeah, that pain barrier is 'the thing'.
C...Yeah, that pain barrier is 'the thing'.<br /><br />Cheers for reading; it's great to have you here. Albeit my posts have to slow down for the next five or six months.Mark Hubbardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02541153163041831880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560636882691523439.post-53961985665176108432013-09-29T10:20:52.990+13:002013-09-29T10:20:52.990+13:00Hi Mark
Thanks for an excellent and honest reply....Hi Mark<br /><br />Thanks for an excellent and honest reply. I've found it interesting watch others who, like myself, have found themselves moving further towards anarchy/voluntarism in an attempt to resolve ideological conflict. Once I got through the pain barrier it isn't so bad and I wondered if your situation was taking a similar route. Or a minarchist on the anarchic end of the spectrum perhaps? :-)<br /><br />I agree about state viciousness, it's a shame so few others see if for what it really is. I've lost count of the number of times I've been name-called, laughed at or been verbally abused for the temerity to suggest that taxation is coercive and therefore wrong, regardless of how noble you may believe the ends to be.<br /><br />Anyway thanks for an interesting and entertaining blog - it's one of the few I take the time to read these days as many of the others are full of noise or nonsense that life is too short for. Yours resonates with many of my own feelings, although we'll continue to disagree on the minimal state and IP issues :-) I know blogging is time consuming (I gave up a long time back) so I appreciate your taking the time to post.<br /><br />As for the handle, I've been commenting and no doubt trying to stir up trouble for a long time now, so you'e probably seen the name around. Quite possibly on Frogblog but that would've been a very long time back as Frogblog is the kind of mud pit that I no longer choose to wallow in , even for rabble rousing purposes.Gekkonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560636882691523439.post-56573190275616747992013-09-28T12:06:14.524+12:002013-09-28T12:06:14.524+12:00Note to self: must re-read some Ursula K. Le Guin....Note to self: must re-read some Ursula K. Le Guin. Mark Hubbardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02541153163041831880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560636882691523439.post-20315976204711769582013-09-28T12:04:26.304+12:002013-09-28T12:04:26.304+12:00One important point missed from the above given th...One important point missed from the above given the central tenet of my blog: a minarchy would only be funded by a voluntary payment, not the tax state.<br /><br />To those who would say this is naive, my rejoinder is simply that of course I would voluntarily pay for the minarchy for exactly the same reason as I currently voluntarily pay insurance.Mark Hubbardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02541153163041831880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560636882691523439.post-49976810604147509742013-09-28T11:59:24.065+12:002013-09-28T11:59:24.065+12:00Hi Gekko
Thanks for reading my blog, and I certai...Hi Gekko<br /><br />Thanks for reading my blog, and I certainly wouldn't take your comment as a troll, because I understand the contradiction you're implying on my thinking from an anarchist point of view. <br /><br />Seem to remember your handle from somewhere; Frog Blog?<br /><br />Anyway, the voluntary society versus minarchy.<br /><br />I can't honestly resolve this for you because I can't reconcile the contradiction for myself. <br /><br />Over time as I read and experience life I change. This blog shows well the changes that are occurring in my thinking on some issues; that is why you're seeing the increasing use of the 'voluntary society' meme. You probably don't realise this is the second blog of this name after the first got hacked (or some such, I never quite figured out what happened, there's currently a science blog operating under my old URL :) ) When I first set the blog up I was straight out Libertarian, and still don't relinquish the tag, but I would now put myself somewhere in that little part of the line between libertarian and anarcho-capitalist. I wouldn't be surprised if some of my latter posts even contradicted some small parts of earlier posts, and I have no doubt they will continue into the future more toward an anarchist-capitalist position.<br /><br />For now, I hold minarchy - albeit requiring a small (excessively small) state, and no politicians, etc - is consistent with a voluntary society based on a free market. I view laissez-faire free markets as the economic bedrock of a cooperative society, and that the philosophy and economics of a free society are indivisible. A minarchist state is only there to police the non-initiation of force and fraud principle and uphold individual property rights, vis a vis a criminal justice system to stop aggressors, plus a civil system to enforce contract. I don't see how an open market can run without contract and property rights.<br /><br />But at the same time I no longer decry the anarchist vision of the completely stateless society: it's hugely attractive; especially so the more party political viciousness and pettiness I witness.<br /><br />I suspect the main issue still tying me to minarchism is my belief that intellectual property is a bona fide property right, and reason will not allow me to ever be in the anarchist camp on that one. Too many seem to confuse the changing world of tech that makes it so easy to copy, which may well force artists to find new revenue streams, with the principle that they shouldn't have to: they should be able to live by the products of their mind, as a famous woman once said ;)<br /><br />Hope you keep reading Gekko. And keep pointing out the contradictions. They're important.Mark Hubbardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02541153163041831880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7560636882691523439.post-13030596693002277842013-09-28T09:54:16.646+12:002013-09-28T09:54:16.646+12:00I've been following your posts for a while and...I've been following your posts for a while and noticed that recently your posts have been increasingly mentioning voluntary societies. That's great, as a voluntaryist myself I can completely understand.<br />How does this stand with your minarchist position? This isn't a troll, I'm genuinely interested. <br /><br />Gekkonoreply@blogger.com