Many of my recent Picket Line entries have been essentially link collections, with some excerpts from the off-site content and maybe a little commentary. At times it seems to me like this blog is kind of like a collection of index cards — little fragments of data perhaps eventually meant to support an argument.
I spent some time going through the back catalog and trying to make more explicit the connections in what has been a somewhat vague cluster of related data. I started this more for me than for you — cleaning house, trying to get organized, nourishing the ambition of trying to come up with something a little more rich and a little less ephemeral than a blog some day. But having done it, I figured there was no harm in putting it out here for folks to take a look at. It’s not too good looking, but you might find it interesting or even useful.
The “♦” symbols in the outline below are hyperlinks to Picket Line entries that touch on a given topic.
Update: I’ve since modified and added to this outline and moved it to its own page, where I keep it updated.
- It’s as bad as you think it is — maybe worse
- The U.S. government is cruel, despotic, and a threat to world peace
- U.S. citizens aren’t rising to the challenge
- Given that things are this bad, what is your responsibility?
- Not being a “Good German” ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
- Ethics ♦
- How I came to have my ethical beliefs ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
- Practice makes perfect; virtue ethics ♦ ♦
- C.S. Lewis on becoming a scoundrel ♦
- But what if we don’t have free will? ♦ ♦
- Existentialism and ethical thought experiments ♦
- Are ethics just aesthetics, lifecycle trends, or fashion statements? ♦ ♦
- What does personal development have to do with political change? ♦
- Values are things you live, not things you profess ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
- The danger of “feel-good” protests
- Is there any point? Is it hopeless to try to change things?
- Calls to action! ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
- How does tax resistance fit the bill?
- Does this mean taxpayers are immoral monsters? ♦
- How can you resist funding the government?
- How does the government get its money? ♦ ♦ ♦
- Legal tax resistance can be pretty easy ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
- How you can legally reduce or eliminate your federal income tax bill ♦
- Some other strategies for stopping payment
- Barter, underground economy, alternative currencies, “time dollars” ♦ ♦ ♦
- DIY, freeganism, frugality, slugging, car-free living, sharing ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
- Homebrew ♦
- Phone tax resistance ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
- Volunteer Income Tax Assistance ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
- Tax evasion ♦ ♦
- Home-based business ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
- Flee the country ♦
- Turn yourself in as a Nuremberg Principles violator ♦ ♦
- Harass the IRS ♦
- There are incidental advantages to my strategy ♦
- Some examples of organized tax resistance
- Recaps of own tax resistance ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
- What about the payroll tax? ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
- Arguments against my tax resistance method ♦
- A.J. Muste's dissent ♦
- What other forms can our opposition take?
- Refuseniks, deserters, resisters, fragging (dissent in the ranks) ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
- Satyagraha ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
- Electoral politics, legislator lobbying, playing the game ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
- Peace movement: marches, protests, and so forth ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
- Vandalism, obstruction, blockades, and so forth ♦
- Subversion from within ♦
- Nonviolent action; Gene Sharp's catalog techniques ♦ ♦
- Economic secession ♦ ♦
- Temporary Autonomous Zones and the like ♦ ♦
- Trends in U.S. tax law and enforcement
- Miscellaneous other items of interest
- The “Peace Tax Fund” and legally-authorized conscientious objection to military taxation ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
- The War Tax Resistance movement — tactics & strategy ♦ ♦ ♦
- Is some government worth preserving, or is it all bad? ♦
- Anarchism
- Tales of tax resisters
- History of tax resistance
- Consumerism, personal debt ♦ ♦
- Religion
- Corporate / municipal / wealthy tax dodgers ♦
- Lease-In / Lease-Out, etc. ♦
- The Picket Line
- Health insurance
