In the wake of a declaration like the one I have just delivered, a retort of the snide kind favored by leftists is likely to be thrown my way – one that goes along the lines of: “Well, do you use government roads?”. This implies that I am a hypocrite for using the services of a government that I have declared to have no legitimate authority over me.
My response: Of course I use government roads. I have to. They’re a monopoly. That’s the very definition of a monopoly – when one organization controls a vital good or service such that if you’d like to lead any semblance of a normal life, you’re going to use their services whether you like it or not. So yes, I use government roads; as opposed to what – never leaving my house? Using the services of a monopoly because I have no other choice hardly makes me a hypocrite. As David Hume, usually beloved of atheo-leftists, noted, just because a shanghaied sailor doesn’t jump off the side of the ship into the ocean and drown, that doesn’t signal consent to his condition.
The same principle applies to my use of many of the services of the government in areas in which it is a monopoly or virtually so. It applies even to some corporations which in the era of “Too Big To Fail” have been allowed to become either complete or effective monopolies in their field. I don’t like Google, for example, but I use them because for many services that I need in order to live a normal life in the digital age, they are the only option available to me.
None of this makes me a hypocrite, any more than it makes Hume’s sailor a willing employee.
AntiDem 