From: P

To: Walter Block <[email protected]

Subject: Working for the government

Dear Prof. Block,

I’m sure you must have written about this: Is it morally defensible to

 work for government as an anarcho-capitalist and receive pay funded by taxes?

Asking for a friend 😉

Sincerely,

P

On Fri, Mar 12, 2021, at 17:43, Walter Block wrote:

Dear P:

I think so. I’ve worked for several public universities, as did Murray Rothbard, Hans Hoppe, Joe Salerno, Tom DiLorenzo, and many other solid libertarians. Ron Paul worked for the govt too!

Some readings:

Block, 1972, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009A, 2009B, 2010, 2011A,

 2011B, 2011C, 2011D, 2012, 2016; Block and Arakaky, 2008, Block and

 Barnett, 2008, D’Amico and Block, 2007

Block, Walter E. 1972. “The Polish Ham Question.” The Libertarian Forum.

June-July, Vol. 4, No. 6-7, p. 5;

http://www.mises.org/journals/lf/1972/1972_06-07.pdf;

http://mises.org/daily/4054;

http://archive.lewrockwell.com/block/block143.html

Block, Walter E. 2002. “Accepting Government Subsidies,” Fraser Forum,

 February, p. 27;

 http://oldfraser.lexi.net/publications/forum/2002/02/section_13.html

Block, Walter E. 2004. “Radical Libertarianism: Applying Libertarian

 Principles to Dealing with the Unjust Government, Part I” Reason

 Papers, Vol. 27, Fall, pp. 117-133;

 http://www.walterblock.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/block_radic

al-libertarianism-rp.pdf

Block, Walter E. 2006. “Radical Libertarianism: Applying Libertarian

 Principles to Dealing with the Unjust Government, Part II” Reason

 Papers, Vol. 28, Spring, pp. 85-109;

 http://www.walterblock.com/publications/block_radical-libertarianism-r

p.pdf;

 http://www.walterblock.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/block_radic

al-libertarianism-rp.pdf;

 http://www.reasonpapers.com/pdf/28/rp_28_7.pdf; (death penalty

 justified, net taxpayer, ruling class analysis p. 87)

Block, Walter E. 2007. “Ron Paul and Matching Funds,” October 1;

 http://archive.lewrockwell.com/block/block86.html

Block, Walter E. 2008. “Replies to readers” September 23;

 http://archive.lewrockwell.com/block/block108.html (libertarians

 hypocrites for using public school?)

Block, Walter E. 2009A. “Libertarian punishment theory: working for,

 and donating to, the state” Libertarian Papers, Vol. 1;

 http://libertarianpapers.org/2009/17-libertarian-punishment-theory-wor

king-for-and-donating-to-the-state/

Block, Walter E. 2009B. “Toward a Libertarian Theory of Guilt and

 Punishment for the Crime of Statism” in Hulsmann, Jorg Guido and

 Stephan Kinsella, eds., Property, Freedom and Society: Essays in Honor

 of Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, pp.

 137-148;

 http://mises.org/books/hulsmann-kinsella_property-freedom-society-2009

.pdf

Block, Walter E. 2010. “You are a rotten kid (rent control and

 libertarianism),” February 27;

 http://archive.lewrockwell.com/block/block150.html

Block, Walter E. 2011A. “It’s Ayn Rand Bashing Time, Once Again.”

 February

18; http://archive.lewrockwell.com/block/block172.html

Block, Walter E. 2011B. “May a Libertarian Take Money From the

 Government?”

March 11; http://archive.lewrockwell.com/block/block175.html;

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2011/03/walter-e-block/may-a-libertarian-t

ake-money-from-the-government/ Block, Walter E. 2011C. “Toward a

 Libertarian Theory of Guilt and Punishment for the Crime of Statism,”

 Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 22; pp.

665-675; http://mises.org/journals/jls/22_1/22_1_33.pdf

Best regards,

Walter

From: P
To: Walter Block <[email protected]
Subject: Re: Working for the government

Dear Walter,

I’ve revisited our correspondance shown below, since I’m currently considering doing freelance work for my country’s Tax Authorities.

Now, I am full-blown ancap, and could use my moral stance as the justification for draining money from the state. But to be honest, I am mostly considering doing it because it is fairly easy money.

A fellow ancap’er and I discussed the problem of how much money I can justifiably take from the state in this capacity. His view is that I can only take as much as I’m owed, i.e., the amount taken from me by the state. But I remember one of the articles below arguing that there is no explicit limit when it comes to taking from an evil institution. I buy the argument that 1) I am not the one originally violating tax payers’ property rights, and 2) that tax victims have no positive right in getting anything from me.

His counterexample would be: Imagine thief A stole your gold watch and sold it to B. The gold watch is rightfully yours, and thus you have a claim against B (and A). He argues that otherwise everyone could knowingly buy stolen goods and then get away with saying it wasn’t they who stole it.

So my question in essence is: Can I freelance for the government and justify it morally?

I ask that you keep my details anonymous if you decide to publish my question online.

Thanks,

P

Dear P:

Your motive for doing so (“fairly easy money”) is irrelevant. The issue is, is doing so compatble with libertarianism.

First of all, only a libertarian would even think of raising such a question.

Second, my answer is a clear YES. I think that you should get as much “easy money” as you legally can.

But while you do, do give a thought to my favorite character in Atlass Shrugged, Ragnar Danneskjold.

Best regards,

Walter

3:38 am on April 18, 2023

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