Taxation in the context of democracy is the best practical model we have so far.
I disagree. The best practical model we have had was ganged up on and bombed into nothingness long ago.
Anarchism (no rulers) provides real answers that empower all people except for the 1% that live off the backs of everyone else.
Watch the linked video above (and the previous two if you have time). Anarchism works. However the filthy rich will do everything in their power to stomp it out simply because they would then have to actually contribute to society.
Taxation can be theft or violence if you claim that all the government-issued paper you manage to get your hands on in the context of said government is legitimately and naturally yours. That's not that easy of a case to make decisively I think.
I don't care if "the government" issues paper.
If I trade my labor for it then it is mine, not theirs. My labor is certainly not someone elses property unless you argue that all people are slaves of that which some people created... governments.
It is the same with software I develop. I have no right to sell you software and then afterwards claim some right to demand you continue paying forever when that was not the initial deal.
You sell something then you have sold it, not gained a new tax payer.
If you claim that modern people are less free and more oppressed than feudal peasants, I really don't know what to say. I'm sorry to put it so bluntly, but that's ridiculous.
My claim is that modern people are more imprisoned, not more oppressed.
They oppress themselves via learned fear and lack of understanding. They don't even realize how oppressed they are but you can see it in their eyes and actions when they have to face any form of government agent. Most practically wet themselves just thinking about standing their ground or being thrown in a cell for a few hours for dis-obeying.
They are generally happier... unless they start to question things and attempt to resist those that claim to own their labor.
The illusion of freedom is extremely powerful... and has resulted in some of the best slaves ever known in the history of the world.
Slaves none the less. Happier maybe but none the less enslaved. At least feudal peasants knew their enemies. Citizens of modern "democratic" governments seem to believe they just need better leaders and never seem to get that government is not the solution to their problems... it is the source of them.
How to get rid of it...
The internet gives some hope. But government controlled education is a powerful tool. Wherever people have organized and resisted in the past... once they showed how happy and successful they could be without rulers they were stomped out mercilessly.
Good stuff !!
Unfortunately, I can't really watch a few hours of movie like that and if the movie makes solid points, I'm sure they could be summarized into a paragraph or a few. I suspect that the fallacy I'll see in it, is claiming that something that could work on micro scale with 100% willing participants that agree with it and don't want to abuse it would work on the macro scale. You realize there are also tons of working communes out there than can be presented as evidence that communism works, right?
I argue that while laboring, people take advantage of the economy of the country they live in and it it's not immoral for them to be taxed to sustain it. Economies benefit greatly from infrastructure, contract enforceability, a reliable court systems, a reliable banking systems and so on. Whatever you do, you are getting all those benefits and you are taking advantage of them. You get benefits, you also get burdens. That's how society works and if you want to live among people, that's always going to be the case. There is no real alternative. Thinking there is an alternative is utopian.
I wonder what data you have to support that wild claim... My guess would be none. I mean no offence, but comparing the way we currently live, the freedom we currently have to feudal peasants and coming up on the side of the peasants is ridiculous and delusional. Let's stop with the big words and platitutes and look at it practically and see what we can do now and what they could do back then.
We have more choice in employment. We have more choice on where to live in the country we are citizens of. We can vote for our governments. We can choose to move to a different country. We have access to the internet. We have freedom of speech. We can say no to a noble that says then have the right to sleep with a bride on her wedding night. We can be thrown in a cell only after a trial by laws that are publicly known and passed by the governments we elect. We can trade stocks. We can start a business. We can can trade cryptocurrency. I can probably go on and on and on. What freedom to peasants had that we don't besides knowing their enemies (which is not a freedom)? Please be specific.
Slaves by what definition?! If you are looking for absolute freedom, you are never going to get it as you will always have other people around you whose rights and well-being will always put limits on your freedom (as yours will put on theirs). Thinking there is a perfect solution to change that is what I call an utopia.