Taxation With Representation

“No Taxation without Representation!” is one of the commonly referred to causes of the War for Independence.  This cry was largely rooted in John Locke’s assertion that a government forfeited its legitimacy when “any one shall claim a power to lay and levy taxes on the people, by his own authority, and without such consent of the people, he thereby invades the fundamental law of property, and subverts the end of government."

The issue of taxes and spending remained central to the political discussion after the war.  The Articles of Confederacy were purposefully weak in their ability to raise funds, to the point where it was difficult to discharge the debts incurred by the war itself.  Even so, the Constitution originally stated that "No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the Census" and even then the funds could only be spent "to pay the Debts and provide for the... general Welfare of the United States."

It stands that the best kind of government spending is that which is approved by the majority of the people, with the costs equally shouldered across the people, and the benefits borne by the general people as a whole.

Any time one of those three criteria is compromised, the authority to tax and spend becomes perverted.

Less preferred, but still acceptable is when the benefits are reaped by a few, but those few bear the lion’s share of the costs.  User pays.  This is rare, however, because why would someone who had the ability and desire to pay for something decide to launder their money through the bureaucracy to do so?

No, in most cases special interests want to reap the benefit while forcing others to shoulder the costs.  When the tax-and-spend power of government is no longer paid by the People on behalf of the People, it becomes tantamount to theft by majority (in the case of popular support) or theft by the powerful (in the case of a small but politically influential group).  If history is any indicator, abusing the power of taxation eventually stirs the ire of the populace and undermines the very legitimacy of the government.

Freedom of Consent

We have to remember that the people in government are just like people in the corporate world.  They're ultimately self-interested.  They need to feel the connection between their actions and their consequences to make good decisions.  The difference is that we've entrusted them with coersive power; the authority to use force to compel us to do or not do certain things.  And power once ceded is rarely given back.  We really ought to remember that before inviting them into every aspect of our daily lives:

The problem... is that government is no different from any other organization in society -- it seeks its own aggrandizement. AT&T, General Motors, and Microsoft would love to have world monopolies, controlling all the resources and expanding into every corner of people's lives. But they are limited by competition, the dynamics of the marketplace, and the need to win people's consent in order to market their products.

Government is different. It expands by fiat, through legislation, through taking advantage of emergencies, and by declaring that private entities can't be trusted and government intervention is necessary. Most of all it grows by raising taxes and hiring more and more people so that soon its voter base approaches a majority of the electorate.
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/09/26/the-moochers-credo/

Let's face it.  It's easier to convince a majority of 435 people in Washington D.C. than it is to try to win the consent of millions of consumers exercising their freedom in the market.

Democracy, right?

What kind of country do we live in? The long answer is that the United States is a Federal Constitutional Democratic Republic. What does that mean? For starters, we are a democratic nation. The word comes from the Greek meaning “rule by the people.” We the People have the final say in how the country is run. Ultimately, the power of our government is derived from the consent of the governed.

But we do not have a direct say most of the time; we are a republic. We elect representatives to manage the affairs of state. This has a twofold function. First, it allows economic specialization so that only some people should have to deal with the full-time problem of managing public affairs. The rest of us can pursue the real business of going to work every day producing goods, offering services, educating, defending, raising children, growing food, etc. Second, by appointing representatives we attempt to make the state less fickle. Representatives can stand their ground against the opinion of the day, so long as their overall performance is in keeping with the long-term values and attitudes of the People.

The government is also Federal, as so eloquently argued in the Federalist Papers (which every American should read at least once in High School, and then re-read as an adult). Federalism is an idea of a stratified government, where we try to solve issues at the lowest possible level. It allows for a patchwork quilt of laws tailored to fit the varied communities across the country, while at the same time guaranteeing to everyone their God-given Rights (life, liberty, property) and the means to maintain them (the Bill of Rights).

Lastly and importantly, the United States government is Constitutional. It is not “mob rule, where 51 percent of the people may take away the rights of the other 49” as Jefferson described pure Democracy. Instead it's scope is limited to the powers necessary to ensure the Rights of the People and resolve disputes between the States.

Somewhere along the way we lost sight of the original purpose of government. We had established a government to ensure we could all live together without the threat of force depriving us of our life or livelihood. But now there are those who believe we must change government into a tool of force specifically designed to deprive some and benefit others. That is not the United States envisioned by the Founders and it is not the United States I want to leave my children.