I remember reading about a guy who avoids paying taxes, but the only reason he's not being arrested is because he now lives on his own compound, is heavily armed, and grows his own food and generates his own power. Basically, the only reason he is left alone is because they police figure it'll be too much trouble to go after him, guns blazing. So as long as he's just doing his own thing, they're leaving him alone.
Does anyone remember what the notorious gangster Al Capone was sentenced to life in prison for?
Also, I was disappointed that the video did not touch on a rather important part of the Social Contract. Specifically, what are the terms, and what is owed? Typically, in a contract, one party owes an obligation to another, and the contract is in force until that obligation is paid. So...
- Is the Social Contract a certain amount of debt that a citizen has amassed while being born, growing up, and living in a country? If yes, then that amount of debt should be a specific number, and one should be able to pay it off. If the number is "infinity" or "your life," that's not a debt contract, that's slavery.
- Is the Social Contract a sort of post-paid services agreement, like a cell phone bill, that you have to pay after using? If that's the case, then you should be able to get a bill for the things you actually used, and at least have an option to pay for extra things you want and not pay for things you don't want. It doesn't matter if someone is stupid or smart enough to know what they want or need. That choice really shouldn't be up to anyone but the person agreeing to the contract. Otherwise it's called fraud, where you are signed up for services you never asked for, and charge with a bill you can't fight (some magazine companies do this).
- Is the Social Contract a rental agreement, that says that as long as you live here on this land, you have to pay rent to cover the land and all the fees that it entails? If that's the case, then there should be a certain price that you can pay to just buy the property outright. There should be an option to go from being a renter to being an owner. Yet there isn't, and the only option is to rent, regardless of how much you pay. This thing may be the only example that goes counter to "everything is for sale," since even if you own billions, instead of offering to sell the property to you, the government will just charge you higher rent. Because they can.
- And by the way, just leaving isn't an option, either. As long as you are a citizen, even if you live overseas, you typically still have to pay taxes back to your country of origin. You could renounce your citizenship, but that typically puts you on a shit list of whatever country you renounced from, meaniing it's only worth the risk if you already have a ton of money at the time to begin with.
