Paying for government (Heinlein)
December 20th, 2008 | Published in Politics, Quotes
Perhaps your Congressmen should dig down into your own pouches and pay for whatever is needed; that would be one way to keep government down in size to its indispensable functions whatever they may be. If indeed there are any. I would be satisfied to have the Golden Rule be the only law; I see no need for any other, nor for any method of enforcing it.
But if you really believe your neighbors must have laws for their own good, why shouldn’t you pay for it? Comrades, I beg you—do not resort to compulsory taxation. There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.
—Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966), p. 303.