As Ron Paul has mentioned before, a de-facto secession movement is well underway in the United States. The political left is also now open to that idea and building a coalition to withdraw California from the empire. I believe that voluntarists should take the opportunity to capitalize on this momentum and support it by building coalitions in every state in the union.
As an anarcho-capitalist, I certainly have many ideological qualms with socialism and communism. But, I also recognize that moving to the ultimate utopia of a stateless society is going to require some facets of these systems as stepping stones along the way. I intend these ideas to serve as a “road-map” for a plan of secession from the United States corporate government and the transition to a voluntary society, something we can all get behind.
TAXATION RELAXATION
The most prolific hurdle when advocating for a voluntarist society is overcoming the stigma that compulsory taxation is necessary for the function of a peaceful society. Statists cry out, “Muh roads, muh skewls, muh services!!! How can we have these things without people being forced to pay their fair share?”
While the typical voluntarist reply is to point out that historically, in the United States, we functioned quite well without an income tax before the 1913 16th Amendment, this argument typically falls upon deaf ears because society was very different at that time. Most people were self-sufficient back then, living off the land in rural communities, and as such were not reliant upon our modern “safety-net” for survival.
The issue we face today is that a majority of people are reliant upon that safety-net. Of course compulsory income and property taxes are theft, of course they are immoral, and of course they are used to confiscate wealth from the citizens and redistribute it to those in political power. But, how do we eliminate compulsory taxation while still maintaining the benefits it currently provides? Can it be done without debt to central bankers and their puppet politicians whose only interest is to farm us for their luxurious lifestyles and power? How do we wean people off the state’s nipple without societal collapse and civil war? We need to provide a road-map to answer this question, not just philosophical arguments.
Right now, on the books of every government in this country, are trillions and trillions of dollars invested in a multitude of ventures. The basic infrastructure of government can be funded from the return on these holdings. We can replace the private Federal Reserve with citizen owned P.U.D. model state reserve banks who can cash in on these investments, profit from clearinghouse transactions, and generate revenue by collecting interest on loans. As this pool of wealth accumulates, the return on investment can easily provide for basic government services without debt to central banks or compulsory taxation.
With P.U.D. model state reserve banks competing with private banks, the competition will regulate the market as consumers voluntarily make the ultimate choice of who survives. These P.U.D. model reserve banks don’t even need to build a single branch, they can form a cooperative with credit unions already in existence. Citizen owned banks can offer simple interest home loans and decimate the usury of compound interest central bank loans. As members vested in the P.U.D. bank, just like a credit union, we can all realize a part of the profits. Our ability to directly elect the board of directors and completely withdraw and take our business elsewhere, if we wish, will render corruption impotent.
State sales taxes on non-necessities can also provide a temporary interim funding source. Although I’m not a huge fan of sales taxes, it is voluntary so long as no force is used against those who refuse to pay it.
DEFENSE NOT OFFENSE
As Randolph Bourne said, “War is the health of the state.” One of the largest recipients of compulsory taxation today is the military-industrial complex.
Is this money actually making us safer and more secure? Not at all. By ending the occupation of foreign lands and not policing the world, we can in turn generate friends and business partners instead of perpetual enemies to fight. This will also ensure we hold the moral high-ground, which tactically ensures that potential invaders will become discouraged with fighting before we do.
The smart way to defend a territory is like America did at the onset. Every county can organize a militia under their sheriff where volunteers could train for a multitude of defense missions. With the citizenry adequately equipped and trained, a planned system of supply logistics and medical support ready to implement, and a solid battle plan to defend against military incursion - there is very little risk of invasion by a foreign army, and zero chance of their success.
This can be done for next to nothing in cost after it is set up, and instead of paying to maintain a standing army, an army of immense size can be raised immediately in any territory if the need arises. Instead of FEMA, this same defense system can have a multitude of disaster preparedness plans, with the same supplies and logistics, ready to be employed at a moment's notice.
Another danger comes from sea attacks. A Coast Guard can be maintained providing maritime security, rescue, and interdiction services for a fraction of the cost that we spend on our bloated offensive Navy. Instead of building ridiculously expensive sitting ducks, we can instead have a modular and flexible Coast Guard of smaller efficient attack vessels with the highest levels of technology. Float like a butterfly, sting like a colony of bees.
The last danger comes from air attacks. As we learned from Afghanistan, a well dispersed system of inexpensive modular weapons can defeat the most expensive air forces in the world. If potential attackers know that their air forces will be under constant threat from a legion of potential sources that can not be located and targeted ahead of time, this will serve as the greatest deterrent. A Coast Guard can also efficiently maintain a small air force and high-tech missile interception systems.
While the initial cost of developing and implementing these defensive systems would probably require a voluntary sales tax, after it’s in place the resulting maintenance costs could easily be covered by returns on CAFR investments, state reserve bank revenues, and voluntary citizen labor.
By walking softly and carrying a big stick, we can ensure our rights and liberties are secure without becoming economic slaves to a system reliant upon perpetual warfare for its survival. This could all be accomplished through voluntary action.
IF TIRES TAKE A TOLL ON ROADS, WHY NOT TAKE A TOLL ON TIRES?
Instead of creepy government GPS trackers in our cars, a sales tax structure on tires (based on the amount of road wear that tire will cause) can fund our current road network.
A citizen owned P.U.D. model department of transportation can be set up to collect tax revenue from tire retailers, the percentages can be calculated to provide proper revenues, and as tire wear increases from higher traffic, more revenues pour in for road maintenance.
Tires can also be assigned a “road wear index” multiplier, where people who need studded tires that chew up the roads will have to pay for that damage as the RWI number on studded tires will be higher than softer tires.
New technologies like electric or hydrogen cars and higher fuel efficiency vehicles will pay a tire toll that corresponds to the actual amount of road damage they will cause, solving the problem of our current fuel tax. For new roads, developers and private businesses will have to foot the bill for expanding into their developments.
The P.U.D. model state reserve banks can also issue loans, secured by these toll revenues, to invest in higher quality roads that require less maintenance and provide much longer life. This will in turn continually drive down maintenance costs, dropping the cost of the tolls over time. The P.U.D. transportation departments can also start their own investment fund and utilize those returns to cover costs and provide waivers for people who can’t afford the toll.
Just by eliminating Federal funding of roads and returning it to citizen control, we’ll save billions in pork-barrel earmark spending. And, we don’t need to borrow money from central bankers at compound interest to accomplish it.
THE BEST HOPE FOR FREE EDUCATION IS TO FREE EDUCATION
Right now a large chunk of compulsory property tax goes to the public school systems. Wouldn’t it make more sense for parents to pay for their children’s education, not someone else? Wouldn’t it make more sense if the interest on student loans for higher education went directly to the P.U.D. model education departments to use for public schools? Wouldn’t it make more sense if these locally controlled P.U.D. entities also had a large and diverse investment pool of funds where returns provided revenues for public school funding?
These entities can also publish the curriculums for free online and allow people to form their own study and teaching groups to educate themselves. There can be multiple certifying agencies, public and private, that test students and award degrees based on their proficiency. This can be done for a fraction of what we spend now. Charter and private schools, along with homeschooling programs, can also provide competition and make their services available.
In the end, parents and students will make the choice, and through those voluntary decisions the true best educators would emerge in the market. This can all be done voluntarily and help reverse the trend of dumbing down in our society. Competition is NOT a sin.
UNJUST JUSTICE IS JUST AN INJUSTICE
Right now many governments are utilizing private prisons, guaranteeing that they provide a certain number of prisoners or pay fees. It’s literally become a giant kidnapping club, and that’s why we have so many victimless laws and high mandatory minimum sentences today. Taxpayers are being milked dry to feed an insatiable beast, spurring the very poverty that becomes a catalyst for new crimes. It’s a feedback loop designed to enrich those cashing in on the system.
By ending the war on drugs, the vast majority of violent crime will simply cease to exist. Through a free market generating vast amounts of economic activity and abundance for everyone, the vast majority of property crime would evaporate as well. A wealthy populace doesn’t need to steal, fight, or kill to survive.
With these reforms reducing our incarceration rate to near zero, we can now afford the opportunity to engineer a funding mechanism where compulsory taxation isn’t required to support it. We can provide this solution by transforming punishment from incarceration to a weregild. While incarceration can be reserved for individuals who are truly dangerous to society, a weregild provides the opportunity for an offender to actually pay their debt to victims and society without burdening taxpayers. At sentencing, the Court can assess the convict’s ability to pay and structure a feasible plan.
Where offenders do not have the ability or volition to pay for their crimes living on their own, correctional institutes can be reformed to produce goods and services (food, road maintenance, defense equipment, construction, etc.) at median prices on the market where inmates will have to work off their debt. With the revenues generated paying for the cost of housing, the cost of the prosecution, and paying off the damages to the victim, the overall cost to society is negligible. Instead of locking up people who haven’t paid Court fines, hindering their ability to generate income, and billing the taxpayer for everything - we can provide an avenue for offenders to make restitution without burdening the taxpayer.
If inmates wants to hit the streets sooner, they can put in the overtime and work their sentence off faster. This will also provide an avenue for perpetrators to rehabilitate, learning life skills, learning job skills, and it will diminish recidivism rates.
These correctional institutes can also provide an avenue for the homeless to put a roof over their heads, accrue savings, gain work experience, and get back on their feet. The accommodations will be spartan, but this will motivate them to gain financial independence and leave for a more luxurious dwelling.
HEALTHCARE WEALTHCARE
As healthcare costs continue to soar, it seems the government solution is to pour more money on the problem. This is akin to pouring gasoline on a fire. Instead of providing any reforms to address the causes of soaring costs, the Affordable Care Act ended up being the largest piece of corporate welfare passed in recent history. This is not surprising as the architects of this legislation were directly connected to the big corporations who profited from it.
The primary reason healthcare costs are soaring is because of monopolization and cartelization. The most simple effective reform we can make today is eliminating the U.S. patent system and increasing diversity and competition. Companies who invent a new drug, product, or treatment can no longer utilize the force of the state to ensure a monopoly.
The state can prosecute any acts of corporate espionage, but competitors should be able to reverse engineer and develop competing alternatives as well. Some people say that this will disincentivize companies from developing new products and technologies, but what company would survive in a free market if they don’t innovate and compete? The inventors will still have years of head start over competitors, and they will have the ability to trademark and register their brands to gain notoriety. Trademarks and brand names will still be protected because marketing a different product under someone else’s identity is bait-and-switch fraud.
Citizen owned P.U.D. model health insurance entities can also be created and offer competitive alternatives. Why haven’t all these Democrats, who are pushing for a single-payer solution, taken any action here? It’s because they don’t want competition, they want a monopoly.
If the choice for health insurance isn’t mandatory, and citizen owned P.U.D. models can compete with private enterprises where the buyer makes the ultimate choice, the resulting competition will keep prices affordable. The state owned P.U.D. entities can also set aside a percentage of revenues for grants to cover those with pre-existing conditions and those who don’t have the ability to pay for coverage. The P.U.D. model can set-up health savings accounts for members. It can also hold an investment pool and utilize those investment returns to cover those who can’t afford the help they need. Private charity can fill in the gaps.
Another large factor in the skyrocketing healthcare costs is the decrease in overall American health. True healthcare starts with preventative medicine. I find it ridiculous that a person who exercises regularly, eats healthy, and takes care of themselves has to cover the cost of someone who sits around, eats junk food, and doesn’t care about their bodies. A major component of addressing healthcare costs is having a healthy society that doesn’t use the “free” healthcare system as a crutch to subsidize their negligent behavior.
It seems our current system is all about selling drugs for big PHarMA. Whether this gets addressed at the university level where doctors are schooled, or we change the system of kick-backs doctors get from drug manufacturers, or we reform our education system to teach people how to adopt healthy lifestyles - it is absolutely vital that reform be targeted in these areas.
A system that perpetuates more sick people creates more demand for healthcare services, creating a feedback loop that drives up cost. If we fail to address this, we’ll never address the problem, just take more pills.
Ultimately, competition will drive the costs down making healthcare more affordable for more and more people. It’s not socialism if it’s voluntary and there is free competition.
SOCIAL INSECURITY
When the social security system was set up in 1935, it was a boon for those who retired shortly thereafter with the next generation footing the bill. Today, our social security system is insolvent with unfunded liabilities that are beyond the ability of the coming generations to pay without drastic inflation and/or compulsory taxation. Social security, by it’s entire design, is a ponzi-scheme destined for failure. We can’t fix what was designed to be broken.
The transition to a sound system can be facilitated when we create our own P.U.D. model reserve banks. The equivalent amount “vested” by those in the social security system can be “rolled” into P.U.D. reserve bank retirement accounts. Politicians will not be able to access this money as there will be actual accounts, with actual funds in them, owned by citizens who fully control them. The P.U.D. reserve banks will also be sovereign entities with the board of directors elected by their members.
With today's modern economy, we have the ability to generate a substantial amount of wealth throughout our careers and save it for when we retire. The most prominent destructive element of that savings is the erosion of purchasing power by the Federal Reserve. By eliminating fractional reserve banking, and competing currencies ensuring sound monetary policies keep M1 in line with the amount of goods and services in the economy, the principle that people save alone can at least buy the same amount of goods when retirement comes. Investment returns will actually be a profit, not a life preserver in a rising flood of money. Private investment firms can also compete, providing stability to consumers through a diverse portfolio.
This still doesn’t address what we will do with the people being paid out in the current system. Sadly, the money they paid into this system was spent long ago. That doesn’t mean we should just say, “sorry”, and leave them out on the street.
One of the first ventures the P.U.D. reserve banks can undertake is to invest in high-tech retirement communities. These will be self-sufficient communities with integrated power, sewer, water, healthcare, and automated food production. The P.U.D. reserve banks can offer easily affordable investment plans where workers can contribute money until they secure one of these residences for retirement. As the workers won’t need them for years to come, we can allow current retirees, who can not afford their own residence, a place to stay with all basic amenities included.
These communities will also need stewards for some basic upkeep and maintenance, a perfect opportunity for homeless people who can be provided a place in the community in return for their work.
Ultimately, by starting a sound retirement system for people to generate and save wealth that is protected by sound monetary practices, the problem we face today will eventually fade into history. The most difficult part will be the transition.
PERPETUAL WELFARE
The best way to address the needs of people who require assistance is through private charity. State welfare programs funded by compulsory taxation simply create a nipple for people to exploit and incentivizes people to not work. Teaching people “how to fish” should be primary goal of welfare, not handing out “free fish”.
The state P.U.D. model reserve banks, P.U.D. health insurance enterprises, and P.U.D. education departments can compete here as well by offering affordable unemployment insurance plans, grants for retraining unemployed workers to get into higher technology jobs, and assistance for the basic necessities of life. Reformed correctional institutes and high-tech retirement communities can also provide places for homeless people to temporarily stay and get back on their feet.
By eliminating the welfare state, this will turn off the magnet that is driving the immigration problem we are facing. When immigrants come here to work and produce in the economy instead of collecting “free” benefits, immigration will become a benefit to society instead of a drag.
Instead of guaranteeing more money for people on welfare to have more children, ending the welfare state will incentivize the poor to get their financial houses in order before bringing more children into the world with little hope of economic advancement.
As the free market drives down the cost of living index through higher economic output, stable currencies, and lower taxation, society will need to rely less and less upon welfare. The transition will be the hardest part.
SECEDE TO SUCCEED
These are just some basic steps that we can take to peacefully begin secession. The free market will also be there providing solutions and meeting the needs of people. Just by saving the amount of money wasted on warfare, compound interest to private central bankers, compulsory taxation, and imaginary wars on inanimate objects, it will spur an economic revolution of wealth in our communities.
For too long, humanity has been herded like cattle. A farmer on the “right”, a farmer on the “left”, and a crisis being manufactured to scare us “forward” into the stocks. People must awaken to the fact that these are all being controlled by the same group at the top. We must realize that this system is not for us, and that we can build a more peaceful and prosperous system on our own and leave the U.S. Federal Government in the dust.
We can all agree to disagree on many issues, but where we must agree is that voluntarism is the common ground for people of all political stripes to rally behind. On that principle we can build a system together that is much better than the one we were born into. Secession progression begins with non-aggression.