Saturday, April 21, 2007

Free Market Reactionism

No human activity, I suppose, invites rebellion more than a moral, legal or religious requirement placed on others that God Himself didn't place. This might be true, to a smaller degree, of requirements placed on us from our economic and social environments. We react to the pressures placed on us from all around us. If the government increases my taxes to pay for its programs, I will not suddenly become a believer in those programs. In fact, I will despise them all the more. Laws forced upon me will not change my heart. External laws never do. Salvation by law cannot work.

It is in this sense that we are free to react against those things that would place unwelcome or unwarranted restraints upon us. If my county raises sales taxes, I can do my shopping in the next county if it benefits me. If I were looking for a wife, and my church had a low level of good prospects, I could look elsewhere. If something I usually buy becomes illegal, I can resort to the underground or black markets. I am also free to disbelieve what others tell me, and can act accordingly. We can also put off doing good things until there is a better environment in which these things can be done.

It is good, then, for those who would force their false morality upon others via coercion (or even passively through taking joy in cultural norms that would have the same desired result), that their targets can react in a way to combat or avoid the desired results. Even though these people may never understand this, I'm optimistic that in due time, they will all fail and be regarded as failures.

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