Diff for "StatistFallacies/MagicContracts"

Fallacy:

Statists assert that because you live somewhere (or have a birth certificate, or citizenship, or paid taxes at one point, have a driver's license, have driven on state-owned roads, etc.), you have agreed to an implicit, unwritten contract to follow the state's laws and pay whatever taxes they demand.

E.g., "[O]ur government was here before you. You may not have signed up but your parents signed you up. It's called a birth certificate and it says you're a citizen of this country and with that title comes all the financial and legal obligations and responsibilities."

Response:

A contract requires two parties; it is not a unilateral instrument. Furthermore, it requires a meeting of the minds (effectively, both parties understand what they're agreeing to), clear terms, actual agreement, and exchange of considerations (you don't need a contract to give a gift).

Old papers signed by the dead are not contracts binding on the living. You can't sign a contract for other people (without their explicit permission, e.g., power of attorney).

To the assertion that a birth certificate is such a contract (agreement), I point out that one person may not sign a contract for another. A parent may act as guardian, and act on a child's behalf, but that still does not entitle them to make promises and enter into obligations for that person. (DBR)

A constitution is nothing more than a piece of paper that people running government "agree" to abide by. It is not an agreement with the "citizens" (or should I say "subjects") of the government. It is a unilateral set of edicts. (DV)

See also: Larken Rose's Videos/I'mAllowedToRobYou.

Related: ../SocialContract, ../RestaurantAnalogy, ../ForceHappens.