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Friday, May 20, 2016

Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society - Oliver Wendell Holmes

I have a leftist friend who likes this quote from Oliver Wendell Holmes. Whenever tax cuts are discussed, he trots out this seemingly clever and supposedly devastating rhetorical bomb, designed to shut down the opposition.

However, what a Supreme Court judge said more than 100 years ago hardly seems relevant, unless the Left is finding a new-found appreciation for influential historical figures. Indeed, historical figures are only useful to the degree they can be appealed to to advance the leftist agenda. Such is the case with Holmes.
"Reportedly first said by Holmes in a speech in 1904, alternately phrased as 'Taxes are what we pay for civilized society, including the chance to insure'..." (Quote found here.)
The first thing we note is that Holmes said this in 1904, which is important because Holmes was speaking in the context of the tax system in operation at the time. The Sixteenth Amendment would not be ratified until 1913. Thus his version of "civilized society" was operating without an income tax.

Second, the statement is a Category Error.

Third, more taxes do not mean more civilization. Lowering taxes does not lessen civilization.

Fourth, civilization is not defined. If by civilization we mean the government safety net, programs for the poor, and handouts like food stamps, then it follows that the taxes that fund those programs foster civilization.

However, if civilization means a society where the family unit is flourishing, God is embraced and celebrated, our heroes are moral and upright men and women, art and music are noble and uplifting, people are prospering, communities are drawing together, and the media are filled with edifying images, then Holmes is clearly wrong.

Civilization is found in people, not in government taxation. Civilization comes out of the values, practices, and beliefs of individuals banding together in mutual interests, not imposed by bureaucrats.

Civilization is imperiled by those who want to use the force of government to facilitate their own ideas for society. they want to impose their vision on those who already possess and foster civilization. Thus it is the utopian Left who are the uncivilizers. They bring chaos and unrest by maligning the civilized. They confiscate the wealth of the civil, and redistribute it to others who did not earn it. They undo civilization by mocking the civil.

No form of taxation can be civil if it is unjust.

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