The recent passage of Proposition 8 in California, which revoked the rights of gays to marry, has exposed a degree of hypocrisy among those who support our democratic "majority rules" system of government. Millions of people, both straight and gay, are really pissed off at the fact that 52% of voters had the ability to take away the rights of a minority. And rightly so! They have awakened to one of the faults of our present form of government: tyranny of the majority. Government should exist to protect our rights, not to take them away.
Yet, these same people who are so offended by the 52% of voters who passed Prop 8 seem to see no contradiction when they advocate increasing taxes on the wealthy. I think it is safe to say that the majority of Prop 8's opponents are left-leaning and tend to be Obama supporters. As such, they advocate the involuntary confiscation of wealth from 5% of the population by 52% of voters (the 52% who voted for Obama, in this case).
The top 5% of taxpayers already pay 60% of all income tax, while the bottom 50% pay only 3% of the taxes. So one cannot reasonably argue that taxpayers are proportionally represented among voters. This is clearly tyranny of the majority. This is 52% of voters ganging up on 5% and taking away their money. Sounds a lot like Prop 8 to me! (Don't believe my statistics? Here's the data: summary here and direct from the IRS).
One may argue that taxation and the right to marry are completely different. But I disagree. Taxation is the forced confiscation of the fruits of one's labor by another. It is the moral equivalent of slavery: forcing one man to work for the benefit of another, under threat of violence. It punishes those who have worked very hard, taken risks, and found success. And it is a violation of the right to private property. Government's proper role is to protect our rights, not to violate them.
I can already hear people groaning about how we need taxes to pay for this and that, and without taxation our society would fall apart. Fine, perhaps we do need some taxation. But to the extent that we do, we should be acutely aware of the trouble with tyranny of the majority, and we should not be so quick to heap the burdens of the masses on a minority which is by definition defenseless under our majority-rules system of democracy.
In the long term, we should reconsider the role of government in our society: should it exist to protect our rights, or to "manage" the economy and redistribute wealth. These goals are incompatible.
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2 comments:
Hey Tastas,
I agree with you politically for the most part, and I agree that there are some parallels, but I don't think you make a great argument. Prop 8 revokes a fundamental right from one group of people who share an immutable characteristic, whereas ones tax bracket can and does change. Further, one can't really equate taxation with slavery because no one is forced to become successful or even work at all. If I really wanted to, I could take a low paying job and get money from the government. I like that you point out that sometimes minorities deserve protection from the majority, but I don't think these two denials of freedom are on equal footing.
yay for Tas!
Oh Plopperella,
I see your point that tax brackets are not an inherent, immutable characteristic. But I think that the right to private property and the fruit of one's own labor is as much a fundamental right as the right to marry whoever one pleases. I don't really see how the fact that income is a choice negates my argument.
I still contend that taxation is the moral equivalent of slavery. You are right that I can choose to live in poverty and avoid taxation, but what a choice!! Be a slave to the man, or live in poverty? Not quite as bad as the choice between working for your master or being beaten to death, but not a great one. I just found a Wikipedia article about this argument! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_as_slavery
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