Quote of the Day
As a lawyer who sues the government, you get used to the different kinds of arguments that government lawyers use to justify abuses of individual rights—sweeping claims of government power, bad-faith procedural obstacles, and more.
This was a new one: The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) argued that confiscating $50,000 from a small business did not infringe the business’ right to private property because money is not property.
Money is not necessarily ‘property’ for constitutional purposes,” the government’s brief declared—putting the very idea of property in square quotes. Reading at my desk, I practically fell out of my chair.
The DOJ gave three rationales for the argument, all packed into a doorstopper of a footnote: (1) the government creates money, so you can’t own it; (2) the government can tax your money, so you don’t own it; and (3) the Constitution allows the government to spend money for the “general welfare.”
If a libertarian was asked to write a satire of a government lawyer’s brief, this is what they might come up with. But here it was, in black and white.
Rob Johnson
January 31, 2025
The Government Says Money Isn’t Property—So It Can Take Yours
Interesting argument. So… since farmers create food does that mean farmer created food can be withheld and/or taken from government employees?
Asking for a friend.
If that argument stands, then it’s definitely time for an alternate form of currency…something not created by the government.
Not crypto. That’s not real. Anything digital is too easy for the government to control and would disappear in emergencies when the power goes out.
I’d say gold but that’s too expensive to be used as a viable alternative. how do you create a gold dollar at current prices? it would be tiny.
I guess you could use lower purity levels for smaller denominations, but counterfeiting would be rampant.
I vote for ammo. A .22lr goes for what…7 or 8 cents? A 9mm for 20 cents? A 5.56 for 60 cents? a .308 for a dollar? A .50 bmg for $5?
“How much for your used tractor?”
“10 cases of .30-06”
“Sold”
Might get a little weird dropping a handful of .45acp cartridges into the collection plate on Sunday, but people would get used to it.
Re gold as a currency, someone found a way around microbars.
https://www.goldback.com/
Isn’t technology wonderful?
The main point is….without a government, there would still be “money”.
As Sailorcurt pointed out, It might not be in a form we are used to but there will still be some kind of “medium of exchange”.
Under that description land and homes aren’t property either because they are taxed in property taxes.
That is all too true in actual practice. Just look at what happens when someone does not pay their state mandated “rent” to the government. They will get turned out at gunpoint and their “private property” sold by the state to the highest bidder. I have always maintained that government will always get the money they want which should never be confused with the money they actually need.
“In nothing did the founders of this country so demonstrate their essential naivete than in attempting to constrain government from all its favorite abuses, and entrusting the enforcement of those protections to judges; that is to say, men who had been lawyers; that is to say, men professionally trained in finding plausible excuses for dishonest and dishonorable acts.” — H. L. Mencken
That self-proclaimed “lawyer” is certainly an example of what Mencken was talking about, though I suspect he would be astounded at one quite so evil.
“Money”, is an exchange unit with somewhat stable value for a given society. It’s presumption is that one can trade “their” goods and services, for someone else’s goods and services. Therefor, the “money” in your hand is a representation of “your” goods and services. Something the government only has access to through an agreement with the people using it. (We agree with your taxation, fines, etc.)
If it were not so they would have no excuse for punishing everyone else that “steals” it from you. Or them.
In this instant the government has shown its hand.
On it’s best day, government is an extortion racket. On it’s worst, highwaymen.
Today is the highwaymen day.
And we have to ask ourselves why every criminal in the world wouldn’t want the badge of government authority? They all do. Many have succeeded to their wildest evil imaginations
And exactly why the 2A was “forced” on government at it’s creation.
The problem is we have been brainwashed to think violence isn’t an answer. And that we must above all be civil.
While they use violence at every turn and whim.
Could any criminal cabal known to man build a more prefect system?
I trow not.
Lawyers will throw literally ANYTHING against the wall to see if it will stick. Sadly too many judges go along with them.
It’s a tax.
Is not “money” just a conveniently portable avatar for clothing, vehicles, guns, food, building materials, accounting services, auto repair, etc? All those items, and more, can be translated into “money” by assessing and assigning value. If so, then “individuals” actually own nothing and “government” controls all.
Which is not something that can be resolved with application of statutes.