I was over at Guitar Center hunting down Eddie. Turns out his phone isn’t ringing at the other end. He says. He is a guitar teacher, which isn’t much fun, and I was there to remind him that I have a paying project. This tips us off that I had to send Dave-O into self-teaching mode. He just wasn’t getting it fast enough, although his motivation was in high gear.Dave-O is one of the rare students who did not respond to my teaching after ten lessons. I felt that since he could play some rather complicated chord patterns that he would easily adapt to the simpler accompaniments. Not so. During a stage tune, there are at least a dozen things going on, his limit for now seems to be two or three of the basics, and counting was not one of them. There is enough hope, but not enough time.
The day was too hot to even take in the free movie. That’s because it would have meant a broiling bike ride, walk, or wait at the shelterless Florida bus stops. Even Fred, who was going to drive it, decided to stay indoors. I consumed a record 23 cups (8 oz) of cold drinks by bedtime. Relax, it was all sugar-free, but still.
Ah-ha, I found Rand’s essay on economics, titled “The Inverted Moral Priorities”. Excuse me for having forgotten that. If I ever publish “Living Like Harry”, I must create my own dedication claiming to be Rand stating my words are the truth as she would have written it if she’d discovered money wasn’t free. Ever the doctor’s daughter, she considers the government’s role is to prevent the initiation of violence, yet does not spot income tax as a major form of that violence.
Yes, I can explain that. My primary objection to income tax is that it makes government snooping a part of every transaction. Where privacy is lacking, so is innovation and free thought, for privacy becomes synonymous with hoarding and cheating. There are many types of taxation that do not involve spying on people, such as sales tax, fuel tax, and sin tax.
Big government favors income tax precisely due to its prying nature of not only how much, but who. And imposing unpopular laws is violence by any standard I am aware of--so I am not surprised many revolutions are caused by unpopular taxation. Taxation is slow violence, but still wrong, because the basis of all taxation is greed and envy.
I’m reminded again that Rand depicts Libertarianism as unreasoning and fanatical. I accept only the basic Libertarian tenets that participation in any system should be voluntary. In my perfect world, draft boards, parking meters, and censorship cannot exist (since nobody would take the job). My highest ideal of man is to let others alone if they so desire to be. I feel what compels people should be integrity, not authority. And those who consistently make wrong decisions should expect help only from volunteers, never taxpayers. That is, no social safety net for fools.
Rand’s harsh [brand of] Libertarianism states that you don’t owe anybody the truth unless they paid you for it, but such extremes have never been part of my views on the matter. Rand loves extremes. You might say I’m a mild-mannered Libertarian. That is because as far as political philosophies go, it is the one I disagree with the least. Did you get that? "Disagree with the least." I may even be wrongly using the term [Libertarian] but not being a scholar of pure philosophy, I know of no other [term which describes my outlook]. Rand’s book is refreshing, for it has been centuries since I have found anyone to talk to about these concepts.
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