Our first choice is freeing everyone from the hard whip and heavy chain of the federal state. Our second choice, should that prove impossible, or should some not want to be free, is freeing ourselves — and seceding.

The logical conclusion of this and other ‘taxation isn’t theft’ arguments is that slavery is fine as long as you (say you) have good reason. Talk about gross immorality.

It’s an internet licence — and if we let it come to pass, it won’t be limited to social media, or minors, for long.

There was a time when a man was judged by whether he stole from his neighbor. Now he is judged by whether he has enough that his neighbors would like to steal from him legally. The more productive the citizen, the more eagerly certain politicians inspect him for spare parts.

“The government doesn’t have any money. The only power it has is to take from some and give to others.” — Milton Friedman

We can — but we have to cut far more than any status quo party or politician is willing. Those who support and defend the socialist welfare state are socialists, even if their title is ‘Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.’

The political class is big mad that a determined individual can outrun monetary debasement.

“Free enterprise or capitalism has been so successful in eliminating the traditional problems of mankind—such as disease, pestilence, hunger, and gross poverty—that all other human problems appear to us at once to be inexcusable and unbearable.” - Walter Williams 🤔

We can debate where, exactly, to put the line between ‘government’ and ‘regime’ but we all know what side ‘everyone must submit their ID to post on social media’ is on.

They never apply this logic to the state, which controls and inflates the money supply, subsidizes all manner of economic failure, restricts competition, and grants monopoly privileges to specific producers.

Many regurgitate that the tree of liberty needs to be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. The reality is the tree of liberty has never sprouted because the state is salted earth.

‘Without taxes, how do we build the road?’ is just another way of asking ‘without slaves, how do we pick the cotton?’

“Keep your eye on one thing and one thing only: how much government is spending. Because that's the true tax.” - Milton Friedman ✍🏻

Start calling it the regime.

The Fed destroyed $3.4 trillion in purchasing power since 2020 -- money you earned, saved, and deserved to keep. They called it "quantitative easing" because "grand theft" sounds less scientific. Your grandmother's pension increases 0.25% while inflation runs 3.2%? That's not market forces. That's central bankers systematically transferring wealth from savers to debtors, from the prudent to the reckless, from Main Street to Wall Street. The math is brutal: every dollar you saved in 2019 buys 85 cents of goods today. Meanwhile, asset prices exploded because all that printed money had to go somewhere. Real estate up 40%, stocks hitting record highs while your savings account dies a slow death. The people who leveraged themselves to the hilt got rich. The people who did everything right, who saved instead of borrowed, got punished.

It’s popular to say the government doesn’t respect the constitution, and it’s true, but it’s worse: the constitution doesn’t respect the liberty we’re entitled to. The first step is admitting it’s garbage.

“The source and root of all monetary evil is the government monopoly on the issue and control of money.” — Friedrich Hayek