Quote from: wdmw on June 27, 2013, 08:02:08 PM

Quote from: Anon136 on June 27, 2013, 07:10:07 PM

Quote from: wdmw on June 27, 2013, 06:17:31 PM

Quote from: mprep on June 27, 2013, 04:51:31 PM

taxes are needed unless we want a complete anarchy.

This is incorrect. Government could be funded voluntarily. It's not binary between taxes and anarchy.

This will admittedly be an argument of symantics but i dont think this is correct. Tax collection is one of the defining characteristics of government. Any organization that is funded voluntarily is necessarily not a government by virtue of the fact that it is funded voluntarily.

I think the right term for an organization that behaves like a government in other ways but doesnt force people to fund it would be mutual aid society.

If you define government as 'The monopoly on force in a given geographic area, which is funded through involuntary taxation', then you are absolutely correct. More correct would be what you said, or 'The administration of society need not be through involuntary taxation.'

hm so its hard to imagine what a government might use its monopoly on violence for other than taxation but it is possible.

so like imagine you had a sadistic ruler who just liked to kidnap people for fun, but he never took any of the property of the people he kidnapped and never forced them to work for his benefit. his kidnapping adventures were funded voluntarily by the community and people generally accepted his kidnapping because they thought it was necessary.

would he still be a government? yea i suppose he would.