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David McElroy

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To become a ‘runaway slave,’ you have to free your own thoughts

By David McElroy · August 15, 2011

I’d like you to think about becoming a runaway slave. I’m planning to escape. I don’t have my plan finished, but I’m working on it. I’d like you to come with me.

If you believe that taxation is a legitimate thing and that you have a responsibility to others to hand over your money and obey the will of the majority, please don’t waste your time reading any further. As I wrote Sunday, I realize that taxation is theft and is a moral issue, but I’m not trying to convince you to change your mind. I can’t change the mind of someone who’s been brainwashed into believing that he belongs to someone else — just as a plantation slave who’d been convinced that someone else owned him had no chance of freeing his own mind.

What’s it going to take to be a runaway slave? We don’t know everything about how to do it yet. I mean, there’s not a blueprint. We’re pioneers here. We don’t even know the destination for certain. But we know the beginning, because the beginning is in our own thoughts. It begins with a decision to quit being a slave — in our own minds.

When slaves started talking about trying to escape, I imagine that a few of them gathered furtively at night to talk about this crazy idea that one man had. Most of the others were afraid to even listen. Even the rest were fearful of the consequences. But a few overcame their fear of change and made an attempt. Some failed. Others made it to a place where they could live freely. They didn’t know where they were going, but they were going to work together to try.

Right now, I’ll be the crazy man talking to scared people around a campfire. Let’s talk a bit about how we might escape when the time is right.

First, you have to change your own mind. Accept the fact that no one owns you unless you freely give yourself to him. No one has the right to take what is yours without your consent. That’s your God-given birthright as a human being. No one can take it away from you — except you.

It might seem as though I’m belaboring an obvious point, but nothing can happen until you assert control of your own thoughts. If you’re still wondering whether you’re being a “bad citizen” when you reject majoritarian theft and other control, you have already lost. The politicians — who are a tiny minority — count on you being socialized to accept their orders. They’re powerless if people ever learn they’re free.

Accept that your obligations to others are up to you to decide. Nobody else. If you want to give away much of what you earn and live frugally, that’s your decision. (In fact, if you’re a Christian, it’s a very legitimate obligation to consider.) But if you choose to earn a lot of money and keep every penny of it for yourself, that’s your legitimate choice. No one can make it for you. No one can delegate that decision-making to someone else. It’s yours. Make it with wisdom. But whether you choose wisely or foolishly, it’s your decision.

Be open about your beliefs. Don’t be ashamed to assert that the majority don’t own you. I’m not asking you to march in the streets. I’m not asking that you make yourself or others uncomfortable. But in your daily life, you can quietly assert the truth when it comes up in conversation. You don’t have to be a shouting radical or a street preacher. Just quietly teach other people the truth. If you feel led to make it your biggest issue, then become a “tax abolitionist” and get serious about it. Somebody has to build the new Underground Railroad. Maybe it’ll be you.

Decide whether you’re willing to go to prison or not over the issue. If you are, by all means, go ahead and fight The Man in the court of public opinion as a tax protester if you want. This isn’t the route I choose. I choose to simply pay as little tax as the taxing authorities will allow me to get away with. I suggest you do the same — with the same attitude you might have if you were handing your wallet or purse to a thief with a gun.

It’s not cowardice to choose to pay the taxes that are required by the state. I think it’s smart, because I have no desire to pay legal penalties. It’s theft, but we sometimes hand our money over to robbers and extortionists because it’s the smart thing under the circumstances. If you do it, just make sure you keep your thoughts in the right place. Realize you’re the victim of extortion — and let that knowledge drive you to further action.

Look for a freer place to live. Leave if you can and want to. There are places in the world where you can live more cheaply with fewer hassles and more freedom. It’s hard to get legitimate information — especially since things are constantly changing — but the resources are out there. For instance, “Getting Out: Your Guide to Leaving America,” is a book a woman gave me a few years ago. It’s a great place to start if you’d like to browse the countries of the world and see what your options are. You’ll find that there are more of them than you might have realized. (The woman who gave the book to me voted for moving to Vanuatu or Panama, but your needs might differ.)

If you don’t want to leave, be prepared for consequences when things get worse here. Honestly, I don’t see why a rational person would stay. I think it’s going to be violent chaos. I can’t predict how long that’s going to take, though. It might be five years. It might be 20 years. I’m not a psychic. I’m just certain that economic and social collapse is coming. When it happens, the London riots will seem mild. I suggest you strongly consider leaving, but that’s your choice.

Exit the political system and tell people why. Don’t be an active or passive part of the coercive system. Explain to others why the system is immoral, when it’s reasonable, but don’t expect them to listen and don’t expect them to change. They won’t. A very few will listen to you and recognize something in what you’re saying as the same as a feeling they’ve had inside for a long time. Your goal is to find people who agree with you, not talk people into believing what you believe.

If you’re focused on the U.S. political system, you’re going to find yourself counting on someone to come along and become your savior. There’s not a savior, at least not among humans. Participating in the political system will give sanction to that system and distract you when you need to be focusing on the alternatives. If you are constantly watching “TV news” — which is an oxymoron, in my view — you are distracted by the entertainment value of what’s going on, but is it doing you any good? No. Turn the idiot box off and break yourself of the bad habit of caring so much what happens in Washington. That’s the past. We need to be concentrating on the future.

Next, understand that you don’t owe anyone (or yourself) a blueprint for converting society before you can start down this path. The biggest objections you’ll get from people are about how difficult and dangerous what you’re thinking of might be and how society can’t function if people quit paying taxes. They will imply that you have a responsibility to restructure society before you can demand that the theft stop. If I can stop a robber from stealing my money, I’m not going to be dissuaded by people who protest to me that the poor robber might not know how he’s going to support himself if I don’t allow myself to be robbed. Stop the theft and then we can talk about how the future works.

Some people are going to dismissively tell you that they know of no moral way to fund government other than by coercively imposing taxes. Don’t be intimidated by this argument. Remember that it doesn’t address the moral argument to say you don’t know a legitimately moral way to do something. It’s like responding to a slavery abolitionist by asking, “So who’s going to pick the cotton? We can’t afford to hire anybody. We won’t have cotton unless we can force dark-skinned people to do it.”

Last, become a part of a tribe that’s trying to do the same thing you are. I’ve run into scores of people who are looking to join other people and become part of something bigger than themselves. Maybe we can become one such tribe — together — over time. I don’t know everything it will require, but I know how to start and I’m actively working on the rest by talking with people who have advanced much further down the road than we can talk about yet. The serious possibility of establishing free cities in Honduras — which I’ve talked about before — is a strong contender. It might be seasteading. It might be a charter city. It might be half a dozen other things. The possibilities are endless. All of those are the destination. Right now, we just have to decide who’s willing to commit to finding the destination together, even if our destinations end up being separate places.

Right now, we’re just slaves sitting around a campfire talking quietly at night when The Man can’t hear us. What I can tell you is that the escape will be tough mentally, because it’s going to require a change in a lot of your attitudes. You’re going to have to be willing to undo some mistakes in your life. It’s going to be potentially dangerous, especially for some of the choices that some of you might make. But if freedom is worth it — and if the freedom of your children and grandchildren is worth it — then now’s the time to start.

I’m planning to escape. I want to take you with me. Will you come?

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For “throwback Thursday, let me introduce you to For “throwback Thursday, let me introduce you to Sam. In 2009, I took in a young feral cat who I named for the early American revolutionary Samuel Adams. He was one of the most confident — downright arrogant, in fact — cats I’ve ever been around. He had an amazing personality and I immediately loved him. He was no more than 8 or 9 months old when he suddenly died for reasons that my vet couldn’t explain. Even though I had him only a short time, he was one of my all-time favorites. #tbt #cats #tabby #feral #birmingham #alabama
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On a live awards show Sunday night, one man made a joke about a female celebrity. The husband of the celebrity was offended and hit the man who made the joke. Or maybe it was staged for entertainment. Who knows? Who cares? Social media is full of discussion — and even arguments — about this idiocy today. This baffles me. Let’s assume for a moment that the event happened as reported. People have been having such idiotic fights ever since there have been humans. Half the bars in the world see such brief dustups regularly. It simply doesn’t matter. The fact that so many people believe they need to talk about this — or even need to have opinions about it — is more evidence of the bizarre media brainwashing that convinces many to care passionately about brain-dead trivia. Your life will be happier and saner if you focus on yourself, your family and your friends, not on whatever scripted (or spontaneous) bilge that the media wants to pipe into your home.

I’m in the middle of migrating this website to new servers this week. This means you might encounter some unexpected behavior until I get all the bugs worked out. Clicking on my links (including this one) might cause your browser to give you the message that it’s a site without a current security certificate. It’s not actually unsafe, but there’s something which isn’t yet set up for the security certificate. I apologize for any such errors you might encounter while the process is going on. If you notice any problems with content which didn’t migrate properly, I would appreciate you letting me know the details at davidmcelroy@mac.com. Thanks for your patience.

I often wonder what animals think when they look at us and consider the society we’ve created. Yes, I know this is fanciful and unrealistic, but what if they could? Would they be astounded at how we treat each other? Would they be disgusted by the ugliness and pettiness which fill so many of our daily interactions? The truth is that I’m feeling pretty disgusted with humanity tonight. I made the mistake of reading some online interactions that I should have avoided — and it sickened me. The people involved appeared to be vile and stupid and arrogant. I wish I could pretend they’re a tiny minority, but I know better. It’s times such as this when I most need to escape much of “civilization” and disconnect from their world. If humans are going to be worthy of “ruling this planet,” we have a lot of growth to do. And I fear that growth is nowhere in sight. So my buddy Thomas, above, and all of his friends would be right to judge us harshly — and to think, “Why do you folks get to be in charge?”

I should have expected this, but I honestly didn’t. The article I wrote last week about disagreements over treatment for autistic children brought me angry emails. You could almost call it “hate mail.” Of the five emails about it so far, two have been to tell me that I’m wrong to even listen to critics of the most popular therapy for autistic children — and the other three tell me I’m wrong for not condemning the treatment as the “obvious” abuse it is. If you read the article, you know I didn’t take a position on the issue, because I simply don’t know enough to have an opinion. But by talking about the issue, I stepped into a heated controversy. The emails from the two sides convinced me of nothing. But they did give me even more empathy for the unfortunate parents who have to figure out for themselves where the truth lies for their children.

Have you ever had what you thought was a new idea — and then discovered that “old you” had the same idea years ago? I had that experience tonight. And it’s been wonderful. I came up with an idea tonight for a very short satirical film that would be a promotion for a fictitious college. The point is to make the college promote — as good things — everything which is actually terrible about most modern colleges. Then I remembered a fake college that I invented back when I was in college. I had created student recruitment brochures and various newsletters back then, so I decided to call my “new” college by the same name I’d invented years ago: Ochita College. As I searched my computer for any old material I might still have about Ochita from the past, I discovered an email I sent to someone in 2009 — outlining essentially the same idea which I came up with tonight. Since I didn’t remember writing that, it felt like magic. So my next film project just might be this one instead. If all goes well, you might soon see “Ochita College: Your Future Starts Here.” This should be fun.

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