Consent - Is it really THAT important?

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Thought Experiment

When it comes to sex, the vast majority of us understand the importance of consent. Without consent, sex becomes rape. We care not if the rapist benefits from this action. We do care about the victim, and understand the horrors that they went through. If you do not agree with this, you are likely a sociopath, psychopath, or some other psychologically messed up person.

When it comes to theft, the vast majority of us understand the importance of consent. Without consent, taking what is not yours is theft. We care not if the thief benefits from this action. We do care about the victim, and understand the troubles that they went through.

With rape, we have clearly universalized the concept of rape, as it matters not what clothes the rapist wore, what title the rapist went by, or what position of authority the rapist held.

The difference with theft, is that for some reason, we have decided not to universalize the concept of consent. We have made exceptions where the vast majority of us agree that certain types of theft is not only acceptable but commendable. Others benefit from these instances, so clearly that makes everything OK. Right?

Let's take an example. I go to a car dealership to look at a new car. As soon as I get out of my old car, the car dealer comes up to me, hands me a set of keys, along with a contract saying that I just bought a $30,000 car and he is authorized to use force to make me pay. I inform him that I have not agreed to said contract, but he says that my ancestors agreed on it, so therefore I am legally bound to pay him. He shows me the 200 plus year old document, signed by people who have long ago died, and claims that gives him the authority to bill me for things without my consent. He calls it a "social contract".

Now, aside from being the worst car dealer ever, it's quite clear that at no point did I directly provide my consent. His justification for why I must pay for the car, makes literally no sense. I simply did not consent to the purchase, thus making this a blatant form of theft if my money is procured via force should I resist payment.

In reality, this car dealer actually doesn't sell cars at all. They actually sell wars, destruction, and mismanagement. Every year, this car dealer pulls the same act for nearly half of our income. Yet, they call themselves a "government" and in today's world, this makes all of this perfectly normal. So normal, in fact, that we have changed the word from theft to "taxation".

By calling taxation anything other than theft, we are obfuscating the fact that consent was withdrawn. Imagine calling rape done by a certain class of people anything other than rape, while saying THAT type of rape is not only normal but essential to our world. This is exactly what we are doing when it comes to taxation.

We have granted a class of humans the ability to supersede our consent, enabling them to use extreme violence should we wish to protect ourselves. In any other context, this would be utterly insane. Rape is rape, murder is murder, theft is theft. Let's stop pretending there are exceptions to these, and go back to honoring one another's consent in all instances and stop this insanity.

If we value consent, we MUST honor it in all instances, or else we really don't care about consent at all.

Do you care about consent? I know I do.

-@derekareith