A Voluntary Government

"A democratic government is the only one in which those who vote for a tax can escape the obligation to pay it". Alexis de Tocqueville

Many people send voluntary contributions to support organizations like churches, the Red Cross, the Sierra Club, and many others.

Not everyone believes the Sierra Club is necessary, but most everyone believes the government is necessary, so why would they not voluntarily support the government with their contributions?

If people think saving trees are important they will contribute to the Sierra Club. If they think government programs are important they will contribute to the government.

One could contribute to the Defense Department, or to WIC (Women Infants, and Children) http://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/ If citizens think farm aid is important they can contribute to the Agriculture Department and pay farmers to not grow certain crops, thereby reducing the supply and making prices higher for the consumers who contribute.

If one thinks the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is important, they can contribute to OSHA.

If one thinks it is appropriate to send people like Martha Stewart to prison for selling her stock, then they can contribute to the Federal Prison System.

One could contribute to the White House to insure the President continues flying in a B-747. Or one could contribute to the legislative branch to insure the congress continues to have the excellent pay and perks they already have. After all, most people think these government agencies are important enough to allow the same government mob to confiscate part of their production in the form of taxes or fees.

People could donate to the Department of Education and have a third of their contributions used as expense money to run the department, then have the rest of their donations sent back to them for local education. They could continue to contribute and support education under the current conditions since millions of people already agree the government schools are important.

Imagine how campaigning would change. Candidates would not have to make promises they could not keep. Campaign contributions would dwindle. Campaign corruption and negative campaigning would diminish. Campaigns would be short. The media would have to find something else to talk about besides what candidates say for a whole year before an election.

The lobbyists would not be lobbying Congress because congress could not forcefully take your money and give it to the lobbyists' organization.
Congress members could finally speak the truth instead of what a lobbyists wants to hear.

You would see lobbyists running ads in the mainstream media asking you to contribute to their cause. It would be interesting to see the farmers' ads asking you to donate to the farm aid program.

You would see ads from AIPAC asking for contributions to Israel. Voluntary contributions to Israel would help reduce the hatred from Muslims towards Americans.

You might see ads from the AFGE http://www.afge.org/Index.cfm?Page=AboutAFGE lobbying you to contribute to their pensions so they could continue to retire younger than those in the private sector who pay their salary and perks.

Congress and the president would have less power. The political correspondents would not flock to the power base in order to be a part of the power. Therefore reporters on the political scene would be more willing to report objectively, like they report on the Red Cross or United Way.

The whole government mob, its enforcers and enablers, would lose power and control over the people. We would have a much more civil society. Conflict would be avoided because people would be voluntarily contributing to their programs. They would not be forced to contribute to a program they disagreed with.

As congress managed the donations to the government programs, they would soon realize they did not have as much money as they needed (wanted) for the government mob. To get more funds the rulers would start selling off government property. State, local and federal governments own over forty percent of the land in the U. S! The government mob would first start selling the 264 million acres of land under the Bureau of Land Management. http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en.html Then they would sell the interstate highways. Then they would sell the national parks. Later they would sell the offshore mineral rights. The government mob rulers and enforcers would make sure their 401K pensions were well funded from the proceeds of these sells before they would fund any programs the people wanted.

Charles Tolleson