I have written a great deal on how the framework provided by biblical ethics honors and preserves the institution of private property. The argument is not complex. Just as “thou shalt not commit adultery” presupposes and honors the institution of marriage, so also “thou shalt not steal” presupposes and honors the institution of private property. …
With All Your Protections in a Binder on His Desk
After my Due Process post, I received a letter from a friend — a tax attorney — who agreed with my central point about the modern tyrannical state, but who did want to defend the IRS on the point I was making about due process. “Although I agree with you that the modern administrative state …
Due Process, or Do the Process?
Some, like myself, believe that coercion without warrant from Scripture is a very bad thing. For others this category of coercion is largely invisible. It just appears to be part of the way things are. In this installment, I want to explain how unlawful coercion is a very real characteristic of our governmental system, and …
Stuff Inviolate
I have been arguing that property rights are human rights. I have been insisting that it is not possible to love your neighbor without respecting his stuff. I have been saying that the commandment thou shalt not steal presupposes the institution of private property in just the same way that the prohibition of adultery presupposes …
Sure. Let’s Call It a Contribution.
So I have distinguished the payment of taxes that are owed, and the payment of taxes that is rendered out of a principled prudence. In the former instance, paying taxes is a matter of conscience and in the latter it is a matter of intelligence. When I give my wallet to the mugger, I am …
What Jefferson Wrote
Some might want to think it a shame that in my summary of my position on property, I channeled Jefferson, that noted infidel and skeptic. This is what I wrote: “We are created by God, and it is self-evident that we were endowed by that Creator with certain rights that are inalienable, and that among …
A Clean Conscience and a Well-Oiled Shield
As I have been noting periodically in this series on liberty, taxation, and theft, I am not issuing a call to action, but rather a call for understanding and recognition. Clearly this is not because action is irrelevant, but rather because rash and precipitous action is usually destructive. Think, and then do. At some point, …
What Became of the Witty Pirate Then
Because taxes can be a form of theft, and because taxes need not be theft at all, a reasonable question to ask is how we can tell the difference. The baseline, the starting point, is that property belongs to the individual. He is the one that Thou shalt not steal applies to. He is the …
Liberty As Durable Goods
In a recent post I claimed that property rights were human rights. A question naturally arose as to whether I was responding to this essay by Brad Littlejohn, which, as it happened, I was not. The impetus for my post came out of a biography of Samuel Adams that I am currently enjoying. Be that …
On Pirate Ship Governance
I have been arguing that Christians need to learn how to stand for liberty, but in order for this to happen they must first learn what it is. And when this happens, they will find themselves saying some outrageous things, like I am about to do. Human rights — which everyone is automatically in favor …