Let it be clear.  I am demanding the ability to opt-out from the government as an option.  We should all demand this as an option, even if we have no intention of ever using it.  If we believe in freedom, then it is only right.  But asking for the right to have this option is not the same thing as saying that we should want to choose to live this way.

These days, Americans are engaged in what is commonly called the “culture war.”  We are attempting to transform the world around us to reflect our individual ideals and values.  But think about this for a second.  The fundamental challenge of democracy, in this or any other country, is that we have hundreds of millions of people who are each quite different from each other and yet are all demanding that the world around them conforms to their own beliefs and values.  Naturally, as anyone who thinks about this for a second can see, there is bound to be some amount of tension and conflict in such a situation.

I like to think of myself as a fair-minded person.  In this book, I have put some of my political beliefs aside, up until now, because I don’t feel that they are particularly relevant to you and I have no desire to attempt to convince anyone to see things my way.  You know your values and ideas and I respect you for them.  You know who you are and what you want.  You know what’s best for your life.  I respect you and want you to live in a country where you can live according to your ideals.  But let’s be adults and admit that sometimes your values can conflict with mine.  The most important thing to you, for example, might be winning the war in Afghanistan.  The most important thing to you might be increasing Defense Industry spending because maybe you work for Lockheed Martin and want your company to do well.  Maybe the most important thing to you is increasing the number of cops on the street.  Perhaps, for whatever reason, you do not want any of your tax money going to social justice.  You may not even want to explain your political beliefs in a rational way.  You don’t have to.

At the same time, you should try to understand the feelings of others who aren’t like you (I’ll tell you why in a minute).  It was difficult for me to watch my hard-earned tax-money being used for the invasion of Iraq, for the large-scale and ongoing killing of people who did not attack us, when all of the reasons given were lies.  During much of the 2000’s, I felt like I wanted out of that entire system.  Then, watching my hard-earned money go to save a bunch of bankers who gambled everything away and deserve to go bankrupt…that also makes me sick.  However, to be completely honest, watching my tax-money go to my Grandma taking advantage of Medicare in her old age, watching my tax money go to the unemployment check for my brother who lost his job because his company closed up shop in Wisconsin and relocated to Mexico, watching some of my tax money going to the public education of my nephew…let’s just say that I will gladly pay my taxes when it is used in these ways.  Why? 

I sometimes doubt my own infallibility.  I often wonder whether things might go south in my life and maybe someday I’ll be in need of a little help.  I also don’t want to walk down the street and deal with a bunch of people starving to death or freezing to death out in the cold because our government chooses not to offer some basic level of assistance.  I want to live in a place that is better than that.  So I admit it; I don’t mind a very minimum safety net if people aren’t abusing it on a massive scale.  I also believe every child deserves a basic opportunity to succeed in this life…a life that will always be an uphill battle for most of us regardless of how much help we receive.

But so what?  Maybe we agree on some things or maybe we don’t.  The point is, being a citizen in a democracy means that I’ll suck it up and deal with some things that I don’t agree with as long as I feel I am also getting some of the things I do agree with.  That’s the whole point of government!  Government isn’t only about serving your own, personal interests.  You shouldn’t try to force me to be a part of a government that does only what you think it should do.  How ridiculous would it be for you to tell me that I should be happy about taking part in a government that only does things which I am opposed to?  Just the same, I can’t tell you that you should want to take part in a government in which all Defense spending is cut, in which maybe the right to practice religion in public is not guaranteed, in which maybe the road will never be repaired on the street where you live.  I don’t have the right to do that to you…not at least without offering you the option to opt-out.  See, the least you should demand is that I am not able to take your money solely to carry out my agenda (not without also making an effort to take care of your agenda).  If things do come to that, then I think we should all at least have the option to “leave it”.  That’s why the Total Freedom Act is important.

Let’s not pretend that all of America is like you, or that it ever will become so.  In return, I won’t pretend it is like me or ever will become so.  We are free people at heart and we are all a bit (maybe even a lot) different.  I am standing right before you and offering evidence that not everyone thinks alike.  Even if you do think like me, then I’ll gladly go out and find someone who disagrees with both of us only to prove my point. 

So we should all be free to make a fundamental decision about whether or not to take part in our government.  It is a decision about whether or not we think that the benefits we receive from taking part in our democracy are great enough that we want to continue.  If the time comes when we feel that the answer is “no”, we should be free to walk away and try something different.  To take part in a democracy means to take part in a never-ending quest for solutions.  How can we expect people to take part in this quest for solutions when they have no fundamental choice to begin with and are being forced to take part in it?  How can we feel free when we are obviously not free?

Maybe you are a true Libertarian.  You believe that the free market will solve all problems.  In that case, you should free yourself from government and, purely out of fairness, you should not be benefiting from any of the things that government provides.  If you want to stay completely true to your ideals, then you should be able to mail your driver’s license (a government-issued permit to drive on government-built roads) along with a statement that you are opting out as a tax-payer under the Total Freedom Act.  Just as you wish, you will never be forced to file income tax again.  You will forgo any future Social Security benefits.  You will forgo any future Medicare / Medicaid benefits.  You will resign from any company or organization receiving money from the government (because, obviously, that would be unfairly benefiting from other people’s taxes).  You will withdraw your children from public schools.  Your local government-funded police and fire departments will be notified that they do not need to respond to any incidents concerning you or your property.  You will not have access to the courts in case you are wronged by an individual or organization.  You will not receive unemployment benefits if you lose your job.  You will not be allowed to use the post office.  You will not be able to drive on roads that were paid for with other people’s taxes.  You will have no right to vote.  You won’t even be able to go to a sports event if the stadium was built with government money.  Let me ask though, from one mature adult to another, is this in fact what you want when you declare that government is the problem?

You might think the solution, as I’m putting it, is a bit too extreme.  But don’t you understand?  Putting yourself entirely at the mercy of the free market is extreme!  Total faith in the free market is a radical idea that requires real-world sacrifice.  Even this, what I am proposing, seems unfair to everyone else because you would still be kept safe by the US Military.  You would still be benefiting from buying groceries and other goods that are cheap because they were so efficiently transported using the public infrastructure.  Your food would still be made less expensive because of government farm subsidies.  You would still be benefiting from basic law and order around you (though the police would not protect you, personally).  Perhaps you would even, unfairly to others, still be allowed to walk on public side-walks or ride in other people’s cars (though of course you will not be allowed to drive your own car on a publically-built road, use city buses, the subway, or any other form of publically-funded transportation).  I suppose maybe you could use the airports, though I think most of them are probably paid for by the government as well.  Look, if this were completely fair to everyone else who is paying taxes, you shouldn’t be allowed to even ride in a car or walk on the sidewalk at all!  But I’m reasonable and I would be willing to make a few concessions like this just to make this dream possible…this dream of restoring the possibility of complete freedom in America…this dream you have of going back to a time before our government created all of this.  I want this for you if this is what you truly want.

If you are, indeed, a Libertarian and choose to opt-out under the Total Freedom Act, then obviously you are the kind of person who believes that the market solves all problems.  If there is a need, then the market will deliver a solution to fill it, right?  Perhaps there will be enough of you that there will be a new market for flying cars to avoid the problem of not being allowed to drive. 

If you are a Libertarian and against government benefits, I’m sure that you don’t need to worry about losing your job and needing unemployment.  I’m sure you’ve also saved enough over the years that you won’t need Social Security in your old age.  Otherwise, quite frankly, it wouldn’t make any sense for you to hold the beliefs you do.  If you are not independently wealthy, wouldn’t it be far too risky to put such beliefs into action?  I also sincerely hope you would never have to worry about a long recession or even another Great Depression coming along.  And if something tragic like that does happen in your lifetime, I’m sure you’ll be able to count on private charity to take care of you, right?  This is basically what you believe, right?  I respect your beliefs and I hope your theories are, once and for all, proven correct.  How sad that we have had to go on arguing all of these ideas in theory when they could be actually proven in reality.  It would be pretty exciting to live your dream and have a chance to prove that you are right!

Let’s go a bit further.  You believe that if the market is left alone, it will provide a better, more prosperous future.  You believe in private industry.  I’m sure you’re not worried that your private employer might discriminate against you if they don’t like your political ideas or your religious beliefs.  If your boss does fire you because she’s a Liberal and is against your ideas, of course you will have no access to the courts to fight this decision.  I’m sure you also believe that, if indeed people were given the option to opt-out under the Total Freedom Act, so many people would do this that you would not be alone…that an entirely new economy would spring up that serves you and all of your fellow Libertarians quite well.  The market solves all problems, right?  Is there not a market of people who want Total Freedom, just as you do?  Are there not enough of you to create a market for new products and services that will more efficiently replace the role of government?

It is not my place to question your beliefs or your theories.  It is your dream to live in a way that is free from government, in a place where the free market solves all of the problems we currently face, where every dollar you earn stays in your pocket and is only used for your benefit.  I have no problem with you making the decision to live according to your dreams, according to your ideas, and according to your values.  This is what you want and I have no right to insist that you cannot have it.  Actually, I sincerely hope all of this becomes possible and all of this works out just as you imagine.  That’s exactly what I’m arguing for here.

I will only say that, as a necessary part of this Total Freedom Act, when anyone is caught trying to benefit from the government in any way (working in an organization that receives any funding from the government, driving on a government road unlicensed, calling 911, etc.), the penalty is that, first of all, you lose the privilege of your tax-free existence.  You will be forced to resume paying taxes immediately or you will face the standard penalties of tax-evasion.  Furthermore, before your government benefits will resume, you will also have to back-pay all of the taxes from the years you spent living under the Total Freedom Act.  If you cannot afford to do so, you will have to continue paying taxes but receive no benefits.  The benefits you willingly gave up will only become available to you again when you are completely up-to-date on back-taxes. 

So please be very careful about entering this Total Freedom Act program.  If you violate the rules, or if you decide to return to life as a tax-paying citizen, it will cost you what you owe.  If, in a time of need you end up looking to the government (which you indicated that you didn’t need and stopped contributing to), then you have to do what’s fair.  Obviously you agree that it’s fair…that you cannot spend your entire life not paying-in to Social Security, for example, and then as soon as you are ready to retire and need this benefit switch back to becoming a tax-payer.  Of course you can go back to becoming a tax-payer at any time, but in doing so you have to pay all of the unpaid taxes from the years you were not paying.  Only then will your benefits be restored.  If you cannot afford to do so, then it would be entirely unfair for the taxpayers to take care of you…not when you haven’t done your part to help them out when they needed you.  So you have to approach this very important decision with a strong sense of personal responsibility and accountability.    

Exercising your option to live under the Total Freedom Act would be a very serious, very real, and very scary decision.  Like any such decision in life, there is no going back unless you can pay your way back.  Just as the early American settlers knew when they bravely chose to follow their dream of freedom and got on that ship with a one-way ticket, there was no going back unless they could earn enough money in the new land to pay for a return ticket.  So it is really quite simple: your back-taxes are your ticket back to the life that taxpayers enjoy.

It is interesting to think about some of the many reasons why people would, indeed, opt-out under the Total Freedom Act.  There were moments, in recent history, when I’ve become so disgusted with the US Government that it felt like to pay taxes to this system is to go against everything I stand for as a human being.  Some activists take their beliefs very seriously.  Some go on hunger-strikes and some willingly go to prison, so I’m sure there would be some who would, indeed, take the option to live under the Total Freedom Act.  Even those who have great faith in government in theory, perhaps even Socialists or Communists, still might choose to opt-out under the Total Freedom Act because they don’t believe in the US Government for moral reasons (like their opposition to unjustified wars based on lies).  Of course these people should also be free to live according to their values.  In doing so, they would be making a powerful statement and I would respect them greatly.  I don’t think I am that brave.

Do you think we should allow corporations to opt out as well?  I don’t really see how that makes sense.  After all, what is a corporation?  Think about it.  What do you do when you, as a business-person, want to form a corporation (or a company of any kind)?  You go to the government!  A business is not, after all, something separate from the government!  We talk of “public” and “private” as though it is something completely disconnected.  But, in fact, a company is an entity created by the government!  A business organization is also controlled by laws created by the government (financial reporting, licensing, trade practices, etc.).  Actually, it isn’t even intellectually honest to pretend that business is something that is separate from government. 

So, while individuals who have opted-out under the Act should be free to conduct business outside of the government’s control, companies cannot opt-out from government because they are a creation of government.  Individuals were created by nature, but businesses are artificial entities created by the government.  How would they function, anyway, if not operating under the laws of the land?  Perhaps entrepreneurs operating under the Total Freedom Act could still form “unofficial companies” of independent people, but this entity could not be defined in legal terms and it may be difficult to figure out ways to fund and operate it. 

Everything a corporation does is defined by the law.  Companies rely on the government to enforce contract law, establish accounting standards, and maintain an economic environment in which businesses can thrive.  Without government, there would be no standard way for corporation to function and no fundamental trust between investors, managers, employees, and customers.  For example, if you were unable to establish a legal business entity (which, as I said, requires government involvement), how would a company even determine such basic issues as whose name is attached to the bank account where the money is received or kept?  See, the funds that a firm uses to operate are legally owned by the company, not by any of the individuals within the company.  So indeed, there can be no functional company or corporation without government performing the role of oversight.

The wealthy elite could also choose to opt-out from paying taxes and participating in the US Government.  Most of them got rich through business, right?  So they probably don’t depend much on government, right?  Of course, a rich person living under the Total Freedom Act could not own or work for organizations which have government contracts or receive government assistance of any kind (like banks or Wall Street investment firms or, actually, most US corporations who all seem to do some business with the government).  An individual living under the protection of the Total Freedom Act shouldn’t even be able to hold the stocks of these companies (at least a portion of the stock price is based on government contracts and government assistance, right?).  They shouldn’t be allowed to contribute money to political causes either, as it wouldn’t be allowed to take part in politics when you have opted-out under the Total Freedom Act.  They probably would have no reason to contribute money anyway, not when they aren’t able to receive contracts or any kind of favors or indirect kick-backs from government.  That’s why they make these contributions to candidates today, right?

Do you think that the wealthy elites understand how much they benefit from government?  I’ll bet my money that they do.  Why do you think they contribute so much money, willingly, to political causes (even as they do everything in their power to avoid paying taxes)?  As I have said, they do it because, when they are able to buy off politicians, they get our tax money funneled straight to them through contracts, subsidies, and bailouts.  So we might be surprised to find out that the rich would not opt-out under the Act.  I’m sure they like things fine just the way they are.  They don’t want a free-market…not exactly.  They mostly just want their status quo protected as they talk about the free market.  Lately, the government is doing a pretty damn good job to serving the upper-class.

Other individuals might choose, as I have done, to look for a better life elsewhere.  We certainly shouldn’t have to answer to the US Government at all (as we currently do).  We should be free to file ourselves under the Total Freedom Act as well.  If we want to come back and re-enter civic life in the US, we either have to pay any owed taxes or prove that we are up-to-date on any taxes owed from the income earned wherever else we have lived.  Today, we can still vote while we are abroad, but I would even be willing to give up that right while I’m away.  It doesn’t seem fair that I have a say in elections but don’t have to suffer the consequence of the results on a daily basis.  But we should certainly not be forced to file anything having to do with taxes while we are living abroad.

There are certainly other reasons, which I’m probably overlooking, that people might choose to opt-out under the Total Freedom Act.  Once again, I’m not arguing that I, personally, would choose to opt-out if I were living in the US.  In complete honesty, I would probably come to the personal conclusion that, while I’m passionately opposed to probably 90% of what the US Government has been doing in recent years, I still see enough of a benefit just in terms of the services I’ve mentioned that I would continue paying taxes.  I’m quite sure, actually, that the vast majority of Americans would come to this same conclusion.  So I’m certainly not suggesting that this should be a widely-used program.  Very few are brave enough to follow their ideals to the extent that they are willing to pay a very real price in their real lives.  Most of us would choose to live in the state of imperfection, just as we do today.  Most of us, if we are being completely honest, would choose some degree of safety and comfort even if it does make us a bit hypocritical to do so.  But all of us would like to have the option.

Everyone should be afforded this opportunity…this chance to live according to their dreams and ideals if they so choose.  For so many brave, patriotic Americans, that means returning to a kind of freedom only known by those original settlers.  These brave Americans of today don’t want to live in some foreign land.  They don’t want a non-stop culture war that seemingly cannot be won.  Why force them to enter the political realm they so obviously detest, to operate within government when they inherently do not believe in government?  All they want is to be free from government!  What they are saying (if we are to believe them at their word), is that they just want to live self-sufficiently and on their own terms.  They want the government out of their lives.  They simply want America to truly become the land of the free again…the place where certain things are possible which are not possible anywhere else.  Is this really too much to ask?