welcome to usaapay.com

2020-

2020-03-02
Running With Scissors (an occasional series)

Way to go CDC guys! Great job you’re doing!

Is anyone astonished that the CDC issued a “faulty” test for the novel coronavirus? And, that they limited with a soviet-like edict which patients could be tested for the disease? Or, that they prematurely released a Wuhan evacuee who had been in isolation? Or, that the CDC is seemingly as efficient as the Post Office?

Please don’t tell me you still have the doe eyes and fresh faces you had in the fourth grade when Mrs. Lincoln taught you civics and described the government as God-like and benevolent. It is far from it.

We periodically hear calls to reform government and make it run more like a business. But, what sort of business model best describes government? Let’s go back about 1,500 years and read what Augustine of Hippo wrote:

“Justice being taken away, then, what are kingdoms but great robberies? For what are robberies themselves, but little kingdoms? The band itself is made up of men; it is ruled by the authority of a prince, it is knit together by the pact of the confederacy; the booty is divided by the law agreed on. If, by the admittance of abandoned men, this evil increases to such a degree that it holds places, fixes abodes, takes possession of cities, and subdues peoples, it assumes the more plainly the name of a kingdom, because the reality is now manifestly conferred on it, not by the removal of covetousness, but by the addition of impunity. Indeed, that was an apt and true reply which was given to Alexander the Great by a pirate who had been seized. For when that king had asked the man what he meant by keeping hostile possession of the sea, he answered with bold pride, “What thou meanest by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, whilst thou who dost it with a great fleet art styled emperor.” (City of God, 4:4)

Rothbard, the polymath, condensed that paragraph to describe governments as, a gang of thieves writ large. How apt. The business of government is gangsterism. Their racket is plunder.

A legitimate business provides goods or services to willing buyers. No coercion is involved.

A legitimate business operates in a free market. Buyers are free to conduct honest price discovery and select the vendor they prefer.

A legitimate business does not operate as a monopoly, with a monopoly on the use of force.

Government, we are told, exists to shield us from a Hobbesian fate. Hobbes, the pessimist, warned a, “war of all against all,” would prevail in the absence of government. That assertion is ahistorical. One need not look any further than village life throughout the so-called dark ages in Europe. The nation-state as we know it was non-existent. Local princes and potentates ruled by consensus. Their powers were limited and they could be ignored or ousted. When Martin Luther nailed his theses to the church door, he began two religions: Protestantism and Statolatry. The unification of the many German states could not have been accomplished without Luther. The powerful have taken that concept and run with it.

But, what about defense? Don’t we need government to defend us? Please read Gustave de Molinari’s essay,“The Private Production of Security.” Molinari argued that defense could be provided by private firms operating within a free market. Or, look at the Swiss confederation for a different (and very effective) model for defense. And, let’s not forget the Second Amendment. It is our constant reminder that Yankee farmers ousted the Redcoats.

Governments must have legitimacy to operate: cognitive legitimacy, moral legitimacy, and pragmatic legitimacy. If not, a legitimation crisis ensues. Governments need the consent of the governed. That consent must be earned. Whatever good it does must outweigh the evil inherent in it. Let’s consider some specifics.

Titles and Property Deeds

Why do we need auto titles? Why not also have refrigerator titles or big screen TV titles? Automobile titles produced by the government, at a not negligible expense, are an anachronism. There are numerous and much less expensive ways to eliminate fraud with the buying and selling of automobiles. We have auto titles not because we needed them or demanded them, but because they provide states another way to take our money.

Property deeds, and recording them, provide states, counties and cities a huge windfall. I can see some justification for a county recorder of deeds to record liens and loans and notes secured by mortgages. But there is no reason for recording the deeds of unencumbered properties or for not un-recording a property once it is owned free and clear. The so-called property tax is an excise tax. What exactly creates the taxable obligation? The fact that a property is recorded by the county. We are taxed because of the recordation, not because of our ownership of real property. All taxing entities are dishonest about property taxes and how we incur them. Who wouldn’t want to have his property unrecorded and not have to pay the so-called property tax? Does the gang of thieves writ large permit that?

State Lotteries

I’m going to go out an a very sturdy limb and surmise that a majority of patrons of a state lottery earn less than 110% of the poverty rate and have IQs below 90. I’d love to be proven wrong. So, ‘splain to me. What, essentially, is the difference between a state-run lottery and one run by wise guys with Sicilian surnames? I see only one difference. One you buy in a store. The other you buy behind the store. Where is the public good in fleecing the less fortunate? Lotteries are touted as providing funds for worthy causes. Is that so? This is not Robin Hood. This is Robin Hoodwink.

As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets. - Jeremiah 2:26

Digression #1 - The concept of legitimation crisis was invented by Giovanni Gentile, in his, Doctrine of Fascism (1931) with Benito Mussolini listed as the author.

Digression #2 -Speaking of recording deeds: I’ve never paid an attorney for a real estate contract, I’m not saying you should do this, just telling you what I do. I go to the courthouse in a nearby small county, usually mid morning on a Friday. I like old and pretty courthouses, the ones where stonemasons with massive biceps created timeless art with cold chisels and heavy hammers. The new ones are just plain ugly.

Anyway, I show up with a box of doughnuts and a big smile. For gosh sake's, don’t wear a suit if you do this. The clerks won’t be as nice and you run the risk that some old coot is staking out the parking lot and has a hunting rifle in the cab of his pickup. He’s got a legitimate grievance against a lawyer and he might confuse you for one.

Don’t think that old guys can’t shoot. I can assure you, a good aim is one of the last things to go. I’ve seen guys in their mid eighties at the gun club with flawless aim. They’ve been shooting the tails off of skunks since they were five years old. They don’t need a scope. Just the iron sights suffice. They’ll call you a pussy, in jest, if they see you with a fancy scope - and they don’t mean the feline kind.

Back to the courthouse. I show up wearing a work shirt, blue jeans and scuffed boots. If it’s hunting season, I’ll wear camo cargo pants. (Have I told you about buying 4 Levi’s camo cargo pants on eBay for 12.99 each with free shipping?) Anyhow, by Friday, the trials are over and I can park next to the crippled parking spaces and walk right in. I tell the clerks I’m looking for examples of certain documents because paying a lawyer is not in my budget. They have always been helpful. Once I get the copies, I scan them with OCR software and modify them as needed. I print them on legal size paper, using Times New Roman font with justified margins all around and get them signed and submitted. I’ve never had a problem. The only frown I’ve gotten was from a title company gal at the counter. She wasn’t my type, but I still winked at her. Before you knew it, we were talking and I got her business card. I used her office for several transactions afterwards. It always pays to be nice.

______________________

Permission is hereby granted to any and all to copy and paste any entry on this page and convey it electronically along with its URL,
______________________