I used to cringe when someone would bring up that cute little anecdote about Thoreau’s night in prison after he refused to pay his taxes in opposition to war and slavery. I’d try to hold my tongue, but more often than not would slip into a diatribe against this sort of logic. Sure taxes fund some terrible things, I would explain, but they also fund roads, parks, and other things we use without complaining. Withholding taxes was petty, I thought, because in sum they led to more good than bad. The progressive individual made change not through a childish display, but through petitioning for change.
This logic only holds if government is truly petition-able. This is the fundamental question of government. Illegitimate authority must be “altered or abolished,” and this is expected to be accomplished through channels created by that very same authority. Conflict of interest? On top of, and perhaps because of that, we live in an era of hyper-bureaucracy. This is our first encounter with what will be a recurring theme in my writing here: the ever increasing complexity of contemporary society and the resulting disconnection between institutions and their constituency.
Suddenly I’m thinking of that movie Stranger Than Fiction, in which the female protagonist pays only that percentage of her taxes which do not go towards war and other endeavors perceived by her as immoral. In the film, it is a cute and futile show of resistance. Still I couldn’t help but to think, what if? What would a government look like that would allow this? Rather, if this was allowed, what would government look like?
The ability of a community to petition its government has direct correlation to the legitimacy of that government. In other words, a petition-able government will have values more similar to those of its constituency than a government which is difficult to petition. Petitioning becomes increasingly difficult as institutions become increasingly complex. This is all to say that society gets bigger, hierarchy solidifies, power is centralized, and 99% of the people in this equation lose out.
There’s no conclusion here. I’m going to pay my taxes–albeit late–because jail is a hassle. In the mean time, I imagine smaller, more vibrant communities where community members put their money directly towards local issues they want to address and projects that will benefit themselves and their neighbors. And I see yet another example of why a hyper-institutionalized society is not the best we can do.
April 16th, 2008 at 12:39 am
I came across your blog on Technorati. Nice site layout. I will stop by and read more soon.
Mike Harmon
April 16th, 2008 at 12:54 am
Thanks, please do. I had to do a search because I had not heard of Technorati. Interesting utility. I wonder how it competes with the Google Blogsearch.
April 16th, 2008 at 9:50 am
This is why, when I pay my taxes, I write a little note in curly cursive that says, “Now don’t go buying any guns with this, your father and I worked hard to keep you fed and clothed and I won’t be having any government of *mine* running around like a little savage!”
. . . aw, who’m I kidding, I’ve never made enough money to have to pay taxes. They pay ME back every year.
April 16th, 2008 at 10:03 am
I use to have a roommate who refused to take the time to do his taxes. He wasn’t concerned about how the Government was spending the money. Rather, he was just lazy. The amount of annual income he earned warranted that the he get a paycheck from the Government. Because of this he figured no IRS agent is going to spend their time tracking him down just to find that they owe him.
He now makes 6 figures.
Anyways.
Thought: Make a requirement stating that the only way you may receive your return would be if you participated in a local, state or federal election.
One could argue that by forcing people to vote (or encouraging them by payment), you’d get a (potentially) large group that would throw away their vote just for a few bucks. (to which i ask, are our currently elected officials any different).
However, I also feel that a sub set of those forced to vote would also investigate issues facing our local, state and federal government.
I don’t think there’s enough evidence that would show how many people, if forced, would throw away their vote.
April 16th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Unfortunately I think your suggestion would involve more bureaucratization, and–most unfortunately–more dampers on individual freedom. It also assumes that voting is an effective means of creating change… but I suppose that part might be fair given that we are talking ‘within the system.’ Though you know I am not good at limiting myself to that…
April 16th, 2008 at 10:33 am
After paying my taxes this year I have resolved to spend as much time in national parks as I possibly can, to make up the difference.
April 16th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
It is unfortunate that these very obvious conflicts-of-interest within the structure of our government happen to discourage the very notion of change. They make me feel isolated and neglected in today’s society. Despite these conflicts-of-interest to bring about change in our country, I still feel like my voice is heard when I vote. The satisfaction that should drive to people to vote is not the amount of money in their wallet but the fact that they were able to speak their mind and help bring about change. Unfortunately, It seems that the only way to bring change nowadays, be it for better or worse, is to get inside the system. And that doesn’t appeal to me when this system seems to ignore my voice as well as millions of others. I think we as people have to realize that these conflicts-of-interest exist so that we can change the system from the outside in. It seems like our only hope.
April 16th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
It is this sort of conversations, particulary when i am on bus going across the state, where i escape by day dreaming of burning consumer suicide stores such as macy’s down to the grown. how does that fit in with the blog? you get so pissed at the ’system’ the institutions,, which are more powerful then its individual parts, and is more persuasive then even those who control it know…. and you get angry and radical.
but it is of course only a daydream ,stupid and destructive, and will lead to no where. it does however release some steam. meanwhile- enjoy the parks, the roads, and the bike trails.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:24 am
I’m saying–abandon “it” as much as possible.
In all seriousness, society is premised on a lie. Its self-destruction is inevitable. I’m not saying total destruction, but we are at the apex of our journey, that point mid-air where one is momentarily weightless–only we have misinterpreted our floating as flying, and we think we can continue forever.
Macy’s will burn itself down, because it is premised on a lie. Government is a beast with its own biological rules–it eats and eats, becoming fatter and fatter. It does not listen to reason, because its motivation is primal. Its direction is constant. We are afforded small victories as a means of appeasement, but none of them can change the course.
But we DO have sufficient freedom to begin RIGHT NOW to build the kinds of communities we want to see. So that’s what we do, develop our own “vernacular institutions” (that concept will be explained in detail later), build our communities, set up a sustainable social infrastructure that can survive what is to come–and when it comes, the people will have somewhere to turn, because we were ready.
April 17th, 2008 at 3:19 am
We’re ready? Yes, we’re ready, at least marginally . . . hypothetically . . . hopefully . . .
problem is, you don’t kill government by cutting off its head, and you can’t kill department stores by burning down Macy’s: while we’re busy building what we want to see the present circus replaced with, tomorrow’s Macy’s, under some new name, is working out ways around child labor laws and tomorrow’s fascists, behind fresh new faces, are cutting their teeth rigging local elections.
Don’t get me wrong, idealism is good, great, beautiful — aim for the sun, by all means; just don’t be surprised when, despite all the hard work, it all falls a little short.
Because, yes, Macy’s and Government are built on false premises, but so is Zion, man; it is a mirage, constantly receding. You can’t catch the horizon. Which isn’t to say you shouldn’t be motivated to move, to try anyway: the mirage embodies what we need to try for, what we want to believe in, whether or not it is attainable. Just don’t drink the sand.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I mean, I agree we need to fight when it’s time to fight. But that’s something we cannot do as a small group of elitist intellectuals. So the time isn’t right. But the time is right to start building that infrastructure.
Things only change when they are ready to, and the historical inertia here is quite strong. It will be a long time before we are more powerful than Macy’s. I believe Macy’s is more likely to destroy itself quite rapidly when the time comes, rather than to slowly lose so much power that we could do so.
When I say “premised on a lie,” I don’t say it to rouse indignation, I say it because lies are disconnected from reality and reality is governed by laws. What I mean is, society is ignoring the laws that govern our reality, and this phenomenon is temporary, because law always defeats delusion.
April 18th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Two things. First I can be the biggest pessimist, or optimist. Right now, I am the optimist.
1) Macy’s is going to fall, I think sooner then you think. It wont be 200 years from now. I say sooner.
The earth just cant handle our crazy consumerism. We are on an inflated market. Soren is right, we are compeletly ignoring the laws of reality- ie, there is so much tree’s, and so much space. Period. I think because we are so removed from nature, and because we live in a digitial world, and grew up to think that tech. can save us, we think we are suspended from reality. the fact that we are all stuck on this small planet and there is only so much space. period. So this little recission, well i think it will be much much more, and borrowing more money from china so i get 600 bucks to spend at Macy’s wont do shit. (now im the pessismist, but i cant wait for the fall)
2) Cultural creative’s, intelligent optimists- you and i, we are not alone. The number of us with this common beliefs- are growing, daily. Some 50 million plus in the US. We are going to be reaching critical mass in the near future, and then we will see the movement we are all have been waiting for.
April 19th, 2008 at 5:11 am
I think it will happen when the middle class realizes it is getting fucked. That will be right around the same time they realize the DFL doesn’t give a shit about them.
April 24th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I think these problems will take care of themselves in time. But as much as we talk about wanting something more real, I think it will be very difficult for us digital children to deal with the lifestyle changes that we will have to make in the future. Surely in the long run we will cope - and probably benefit from the change of pace - but I think we will be very cranky boys and girls when we have to relinquish our posh consumer lifestyles.