Defunding Fascists with Asymmetric Economic Warfare, or Being Happy with Less
July 5th, 2007Works for my wife and me. We took it quite a bit further than this, but you get the idea.
I wouldn’t suggest doing this for any political reason, though. Forget politics. You might find, like we did, that being able to live well on very little money leads to a happier life.
The fact that you can look at yourself in the mirror is a bonus.
Via: MyWay / AP:
When the United States invaded Iraq more than four years ago, war opponent David Gross asked his bosses for a radical pay cut, enough so he wouldn’t have to pay taxes to support the war.
“I was having a hard time looking at myself in the mirror,” Gross said. “I knew the bombs falling were in part paid with my tax dollars. I had to actually do something concrete to remove my complicity.”
The San Francisco technical writer was making close to $100,000 a year. He didn’t know exactly how big of a pay cut he would need to fall below the federal tax threshold, but later figured out he would have to make less than minimum wage.
…
Gross said he now manages to live on about $15,000 per year by carefully tracking his spending.
He acknowledged the tax resistance movement is too small to stop the war.
“But I think what we’re doing is showing the way for people in the anti-war movement,” Gross said. “I can look myself in the mirror and say at least I’m not supporting it, at least I’m not part of the machine.”
I think that David has hit upon a crucial element necessary for wars and exploitation: complicity. Most of us are unaware or in denial of how our taxes, and our spending habits are woven into our foreign policies, the deaths in wars and the losses of domestic jobs. I make too little to pay taxes, have stopped eating factory farmed foods, never shop at Walmart, and try to avoid any sweatshop made clothing. I shop at second-hand thrift shops and also try to buy locally produced craft items for presents. I’m trying to take a tactical lesson from the Amish: “Shun the English.” They seem to show us how to resist without being labeled “terrorists.” I don’t think even dumbass FEMA would be able to get away with calling them “terrorists.”
No, I’m sorry, David, you do not actually get to look in the mirror now. Whatever money got cut out of your pay so you would not have to pay taxes on it, was kept by your employer, who probably paid taxes on it, or if they somehow avoided that, paid it to someone else who paid taxes on it.
Historically speaking, my understanding is that the Vietnam anti-war movement was only successful when it penetrated the actual military, resulting in equipment destruction and fraggings, while at the same time there was the “fear” of widespread tax rebellion, meaning there was a growing refusal to pay taxes that could have gone the functional equivalent of viral for the time.
That and it made less sense to be there than in the Gulf, which at least has oil; but it never is supposed to make “real” sense, only sense for the people who make money off of it.
But the above kind of activism is the extreme, but populist kind, that most elite types of activists aren’t willing to take; at least not immediately.
In any case, in such circumstances, “they” will back over for awhile, then they’ll start again; although “they” are always doing things all over the place that nobody would agree with.
I did sort of the same thing but kept my standard of living….well actually improved it substantially.
I migrated to New Zealand.
Now my tax dollars don’t have any connection to Depleted Uranium Munitions, or FEMA camps.
Oh and one more comment..
Reagan had a study done ( i can’t remember the name atm ) which proved that 0% of the Federal Income Tax goes to funding Government and National Defense.
100% of it goes to paying the interest on the debt to the Federal Reserve for loaning the money it printed out of thin air to the US Treasury.
All that when the US Govt has the legal right to print it itself interest free.
And wait it gets better the Federal Reserve is a PRIVATE foreign owned bank.
So the income tax he lowered his standard of living so he wouldn’t pay is a moot point.
Someone should mail him a copy of America Freedom to Facism.
ENJOY YOUR INDEPENDENCE DAY!
Wow. That guy is a hero.
Ozzy, I think you’re missing the point. He isn’t aiming to reduce the total amount of taxes the Fed takes in each year. He simply doesn’t want to be morally culpable by contributing.
Even so, it’s indisputable that he’s withdrawn real economic activity. The US’s net production of services has fallen, ever so very slightly. Look up “broken window fallacy” on google.
If everyone did what this man is doing, the federal authoritarian regime would collapse. There would not be enough taxable economic activity to sustain it.
This appears to be the only viable anti-authoritarian strategy pursuible on an individual basis.
If we were all this sane, we wouldn’t be where we are today.
Forget the war, this is the true path to revolution. It’s actually something that’s been rolling around my head since I first read the phrase “If you want change, keep it in your pocket” on this very blog (or perhaps the old accompanying forum). Starving the corporate beast by living simply and frugally. Previous generations rose up in protest and actually got some changes made, but really for the most part that was all temporary and the end result was that the bad guys got better at suppressing such actions. I think other than the very small chance of a global flash crowd happening, this sort of thing is really all that’s left to us. The trick of course would be to somehow make the whole concept trendy, hip and cool.
Ozzy, you make a good point. He would have been better off asking for a pay rise and then putting everything above the $15,000 mark into paying off his mortgage at which point he would be in a position to leave the system entirely.
The way to bring the system to its knees seems rather simple to me. For one month, everyone who makes a monthly payment to anybody, simply don’t make it. Imagine every mortgage payment and every insurance payment and every credit card payment withheld. Same goes for gas, electricity, telephone. That would probably be enough. If not, let’s all do it for another month. That should be enough. If not, let’s all do for yet another month.
In fact, let’s force TPTB to foreclose on every single mortgage in the land. Let’s force TPTB to send out the bailiffs to every single credit card holder in the land. When they get there, let’s have them find entire neighbourhoods gathered together to greet them, as they arrive. Let all those rifles and pistols to be found in wardrobes and gun racks and gun cases be gathered among these God-fearing neighbours. Let the bailiffs choose between joining the party or feeding it.
That is how we reclaim our freedoms and our natural rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Organise every single bloody sub-prime foreclosure neighbourhood into a militia. Gather from every town in the land to support these people as TPTB try to “reclaim†what they think is theirs. Brandish these weapons in the faces of that evil and destroy it, through violent action if necessary. Be ruthless and uncompromising. TPTB are. Stop feeding the beast. Once the beast has no food, it dies. Stop sending money to the beast. Kill it. Dead.
That’s the way forward.
goritsas, the vast majority of people support the system, not oppose it. That’s why, at this point, any effective resistance must be on an individual basis.
Ed Brown is a national laughingstock, literally reviled by his neighbors.
Damn, great post.
I can’t wait to disconnect from the system. I am quite keen to join one of those WWOOF farms since I don’t have the skills (yet) to lead a sustainable lifestyle.
My dreams use to be to live in a nice city, nice car, nice job, etc etc. Now all I wanna do is become self sufficient and own my own piece of land far far away (preferably on an island).
Oneday the budget will allow it…
Sharing and trading of things and services is another great way to subvert the tax system and consumerist atomized lifestyle that supports TBTB.
The really revolutionary thing David did wasn’t in cutting his income to avoid paying taxes. The system can handle that. The revolutionary part is in being honestly happy with less. Disconnecting happiness from possessions is the place where all freedom comes from. Without that psychological shift all other changes are temporary.
Some good comments!
Personally i have been starting to cut the strings of the corporate beast for a while now.
With the help of a close friend i have been scouring my bank accounts and weeded out all the unneccessary
Insurance payments,charity payments and superannuation payments (yes those as well!)
Most of these payments were set in place when i was much younger and ignorant of the world around me.Around 400$ a month in all.
Things are still a work in progress but man it feels good to can these payments!
I know have a small plot of land and the money that was going to make corporate fat cats richer is now going to help build my self sufficent empire.
My advice to people reading this is dont delay start cutting those strings today!
I say screw ’em! Start a parallel system. Organize a bunch of local and conscious businesses (if my conservative little city on the edges of the Bible-Belt has them, yours probably does too) into mutual support. Then get them into a barter system, where “money off” coupons of 100% off can be used at different businesses. Then start a bank under S & L rules, whose loans are funded at 100% with deposits of those coupons.
You’d have to get happy with what you could get locally. There’d be some remaining links with the Empire for a while – stuff like rent and spending cash. As the Empire’s financial system “unwinds,” the folks that still have a lot of Empire money become more and more cloistered, and transportation withers, you’ve got the makings of an independent society of happiness, solidarity, and the sleep of innocence.
Not saying it would work, but it’s the one chance I see.
You might also start teaching the christians to follow their on teachings. The Jubilee is a time when all the land goes back to it’s original allotees, and all debts are cancelled. In America this never happened, some of the land was bought but most was taken by conquest. So all the land needs to be divided according to the size of each family, based on it’s productivity.
But you guys are on the right path for where we are now. A Jubilee won’t work until the people stop loving their slavery, and that won’t happen until they learn that they are slaves.
Coming out of Babylon {chaos} begins on a personal level, by implementing the truth that we don’t need and shouldn’t want what they are selling. The time is at hand.
Not contributing $ to an immoral war is commendable.
Removing $ from the war machine by applying for Welfare, Social Security, Disability (SSI) or any other benefit program, thereby REMOVING $ from the war che$t, is exemplary.
I for one, quit working for $ altogether and made early application for, and am now receiving Social Security. I am also actively seeking other ways to squeeze cash from the bushco war che$t.
If one is truly dedicated & happens to have a terminal condition, an effective $ drain on the war would be for the terminal patient to get arrested & tossed in federal prison. It costs a small fortune to maintain a cancer or Parkinson’s patient in the slammer.
Olo…
Hey Doll, you aren’t hurting “The Man” with your choices, you are hurting the rest of us who will see an increase in the already stiffling cost of doing business in order to fund your position. You are behaving like a microcosm of big business. Olo, the Enron of one. I am sure you have talents to share with the rest of us that you can use for currency in a barter based system, aye?
Thank you all for your most helpful comments.
I am doing, little by little, many of the things you are advocating.
You present an ethical, conpelling, and spiritual foundation for your actions. Any person of conscience will be either inspired or disturbed by them.
Those with religious convictions (as I am) are slow to come around to this point of view because of our ingrained belief in the uprightness of the freedom of religion under which we were raised. I now believe this freedom of religious expression we’ve enjoyed has led many of us to feel conflict in defending the status quo which permitted it, versus a sense of being lulled into a personal compromise with it while it committed its outrages in our name. It may, if you will forgive the offense my remark may cause you, cause us to yet again distance ourselves from it: accepting the resultant hardships as a necessary prerequisite for peace of soul. This is the disturbance of soul and conscience within current American life which plagues me.
Again, I thank you for your comments and look forward to more.
Sincerely,
Odox
I have just spent three weeks at Twin Oaks Farm in Virginia–one of two surviving ’60’s communes.
Twin Oakers eat homegrown organic food and live in an ‘egalitarian community’ where the average income is $2000.00. That’s per YEAR.
And they have a roof over their heads and the aforementioned organic food, expertly prepared twice a day. Everything here is earned by sweat equity.
I, too, had religious and moral objections to paying for this war but was not prepared to go solo on a ‘homestead’. There are 99 other people here who made similar decisions, though not for the same reasons. It’s not for everyone. I am going to investigate at least one other community before making my final plans, but do know that I would rather be in a communal situation rather than try to survive alone.
I can recommend Twin Oaks and other egalitarian communities to anyone wishing to opt out of the rat race.
Olo
I like your idea, and I wouldn’t feel bad at all about doing it either cause I’ve probably given the feds 350,000 dollars over my career as a software engineer; so I figure “they owe me Big Time”. How did you get on “early” Social Security, and what other ideas do you have for getting “paid back” by the government? I really am interested – email me at prov6@yahoo.com.