This is a very useful article although I don’t see a photo attached...Tax collection is the sharp end of the predatory state stick as every good Rothbardian Austrian economist and libertarian knows. The Reagan quip irritates the hell out of me because it shows that governments of every stripe recognise the metastasizing nature of the State and its corrosive effect on civil society, capital formation, suppression of enterprise and individual responsibility but have neither the will nor the interest to do anything about it, except make unfunny jokes. There is absolutely nothing inevitable or “natural” about the metastasizing bureaucratic State, but unless it is deliberately held in check the compound effect will inevitably be collapse, as you rightly point out. It is that blithe acceptance (or willful ignorance) that makes the political class so despicable.
This is a very useful article although I don’t see a photo attached...Tax collection is the sharp end of the predatory state stick as every good Rothbardian Austrian economist and libertarian knows. The Reagan quip irritates the hell out of me because it shows that governments of every stripe recognise the metastasizing nature of the State and its corrosive effect on civil society, capital formation, suppression of enterprise and individual responsibility but have neither the will nor the interest to do anything about it, except make unfunny jokes. There is absolutely nothing inevitable or “natural” about the metastasizing bureaucratic State, but unless it is deliberately held in check the compound effect will inevitably be collapse, as you rightly point out. It is that blithe acceptance (or willful ignorance) that makes the political class so despicable.
Sorry about the missing photo. Still getting my "sea legs" with this Substack app.
Thanks for reading!