Suppose, for a minute, that several of your neighbors came to your door and presented you with a paper on which they had written, in quite formal language, their intent to build a playground for neighborhood children, and that this enterprise was to be funded by a “contribution” from you, among others. “No thanks,” you tell them. “My children are grown and gone, and besides, a playground, in my opinion, would be a noisy nuisance. Count me out.” “But,” they say, “just look at this impressive document. We’ve affixed our signatures to it, and our group leader has put his seal upon it. Just look!” You laugh and close the door; they leave, mumbling.
Or consider this: You park your car on the street, and another neighbor (you’ve got terrific neighbors!) runs up to you and says you must move your car. “You can’t park here,” he says, “because this is a no-parking area.” “Says who?” you ask. “Well, all of us decided it should be a no-parking area, and we even wrote it down and signed and sealed it, so it’s official, and you have to move.” “But I live here. Where do you expect me to park?” “There’s a parking area over there,” he replies, “but you’ll have to pay to park there.” You pat him kindly on the shoulder. “You poor, deluded fellow,” you say, and take your leave. You hear him cursing under his breath as you walk away.
There’s only one thing about these stories that makes them fantasies, or nonsense. That is that your neighbors walk away and let you keep your money, and park where you please. In the real world, as opposed to the fantasy world in which we find ourselves, groups such as your neighbors call themselves “legislators,” or some similar word, and fully expect you to obey them. This is because a minority of “eligible voters” in the district elected them to office, and on that very day they somehow acquired a power that they didn’t have before: the power to compel your obedience. Now when they present you with their wish list, and demand that you fund it, you can’t turn them away, because that wish list is now the LAW!
