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A comment on An Archive of Fugitive Slave Ads Sheds New Light on Lost Histories. Parent comment

Re:An Archive of Fugitive Slave Ads Sheds New Light on Lost ... by afarrell on Sunday May 29, 2016 @01:23AM (#11794938)
1) The IRS does not literally rape people as happened under American chattel slavery

2) Your analogy also has the problem that without taxes, it would not be possible to fund an organization that prevents other organizations from coming in and taxing you (aka "protection money"). Can point to a society of more than 500,000 members that has existed without taxes? I can point to several pre-1865 societies without slavery.

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Re:An Archive of Fugitive Slave Ads Sheds New Light on Lost ... by monort on Sunday May 29, 2016 @02:15AM (#11795094)
I agree that arguments against slavery were stronger in 1865, than against taxes, but absence of something is a bad predictor about possibility. You couldn't point to a liberal democracy before 18th century too.
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Re:An Archive of Fugitive Slave Ads Sheds New Light on Lost ... by afarrell on Sunday May 29, 2016 @09:36AM (#11796308)
On its own, absence is a bad argument. But combined with presenting a problem (that people will spontaneously form a government and collect taxes under threat of kneecapping) it is a stronger argument.
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