What is a legitimate government?
Legitimate governments do NOT commit crimes.
Two traits distinguish a legitimate government from a counterfeit one.
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Legitimate governments don’t initiate force — doing so is criminal and negates the purpose of government
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Legitimate governments only use force defensively
This means we do not currently have a legitimate government. Our current so-called government initiates force in nearly everything it does, and is therefore illegitimate. To promote empathy, Zero Aggression, and legitimate government, take the following actions…
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(2 Comments)
By Ted August 13, 2015 - 8:39 am
First, I love the work you folks are doing! Making these concepts available in bite size chunks is a great idea.
I was wondering where taxation comes into the picture to pay for the legitimate government you describe. Clearly the imposition of taxes is taking money by force. So how would this government be funded? My apologies If you’ve covered this topic elsewhere.
Ted
By Perry Willis August 13, 2015 - 2:26 pm
Hi Ted. Thanks for the kind words. We cover your question in a general way in our Mental Levers collection Elements of a Voluntary Society. We plan to add a collection in the near future called “The Machinery of a Voluntary Society.” It will go into program-by-program detail about the mechanisms and virtues of voluntary funding.
Perhaps the most important Lever in the “Elements” collection is this one — “Is taxation practical?”
Thanks for your interest in our work.