Younger readers may wish to the leave the room. Older ones will want to check that their wills are in order. For I’m about to astonish and amaze with a demonstration of pure political power that will be shocking in its extent. There is a serious risk of damage to your health.
You have been warned.
Ready? Here it comes. This is your last chance to turn back!
I hereby remove my consent to be governed by government of the United States of America.
There! I did it! I have just broke irreparably the entire government!
The reverberations will take some time to filter through the system, it’s true, but it’s a mega Richter Scale 10-point-oh political earthquake that’ll take out everything in its path. And it’s coming your way. Some of you may not be able to avoid the wave. For those “innocents” who are taken out, well, you have my pity. But you should have seen it coming.
“Briggs! What did you do! More importantly, how did you do it?”
What I did was to remove the foundational support of our liberal government. Without that foundation it, of course, cannot stand. It must fall. And it was easy.
“Yes, but how?”
Well, you understand our government derives its legitimacy—this is something they themselves claim, now; they tout it—they derive their legitimacy from the consent of those governed. Isn’t that so? Isn’t that what they claim?
“I suppose so, but I’m not sure what you mean.”
What I mean is easy. If the government bases its legitimacy on the consent of those that it governs, then if that consent is removed, so is the legitimacy of the government. You can’t find a flaw in that argument.
“Don’t be so silly. What they mean by consent is that you live here, so you give your tacit consent. Besides, there’s voting. You can vote for or against what you don’t like, or for or against the people who you think will best represent you. If the vote doesn’t go your way, that’s tough cookies for you. But the vote process remains.”
You’re not following me. Let me try this. First, I have removed any tacit consent overtly. Besides, so-called tacit consent can be used to justify anything. Plus, that we vote on anything is a rule, or law, imposed by those that govern us, yes?
“I suppose so.”
And in order to create legitimate rules or laws the government itself must be legitimate, yes?
“Of course.”
So what makes our government legitimate so that it can create these voting rules and laws? Our consent. That is the definition of the liberalism that the government says it swears to. But I have removed that consent. Therefore, I have removed the government’s legitimacy. Votes don’t count because they are not constituted legitimately.
“Don’t vote, then.”
I won’t do anything, then. At least, I won’t do anything I don’t want to do. That includes forking over my money to an illegitimate government.
“Ha ha. Stop paying taxes and they’ll come after you. You’ll be lucky if all they do is take your money. You could easily end up in the hoosegow.”
You’re saying they would rob me of what’s mine and take away my liberty?
“You know they would.”
Even though I have removed their legitimate authority for doing so?
“You can say you did that. But I don’t think they’ll listen. They certainly won’t believe it. They’re in charge. They’re they ones with the cops and guns. Do you think you’d be able to stop them?”
Now that you mention it, no. Not really. I’m only one guy. I don’t know how I could hold out against their onslaught if they refused to honor their commitment and confess that their only logical justification for punishing me has been removed.
“Face it, Briggs. They have the power and you don’t.”
So my consent has nothing to do with who holds power?
“Not hardly.”
There you have it, friend. You have made the point I really wanted to make. Liberalism is based on a lie.
This post is in honor of Zippy Catholic’s memory. I pray that he is now looking down on it with favor. To all critics: yes, I meant these 680 words to be a complete, exhaustive theory of government, including all possible nuances, shades, and exceptions.