The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

What is Money?

Money is the representation of the labor and toil of what one person produces. Whether you go to work in an office, store, factory, farm, or other places of work, you labor and toil for which you receive money for your efforts. And the money you earn is your property. Money in of itself is just a high-quality piece of pager with quality engraving that has almost no intrinsic value. It is what the money represents that has value, and that value is the labor and toil it took to earn money. You can then use this money to purchase the goods or services for which others have labored and toiled to produce, and they, in turn, use the monies for which they have labored and toiled to purchase the goods and services of others who have labored and toiled, ad infinitum. Therefore, money is just the representation of the labor and toil of each person who works. You should, therefore, always equate money to the labor and toil of those who worked to earn money. And money is only earned through the labor and toil of individuals. Whether these individuals earn this money by themselves or in cooperation with others in a commercial arrangement such as a business, the money earned is earned by the individual labor and toil of those who worked for it.

Governments do not produce money; they only print money to be utilized by the individual or business. Taxes on the labor and toil of individuals are the way that a government collects money to spend on the legitimate functions of government. The legitimate functions of government that are necessary and proper to serve the public interests of the taxpayers for the purposes of maintaining an orderly, peaceful, and viable society. Government spending should only be for the common good within the limited and enumerated powers of the government, as I have Chirped on “Greater Good versus the Common Good”. For if the government is to tax and spend for anything else, then they are appropriating the labor and toil of the individual for purposes that are not the legitimate responsibility of the government. As such, when the government decides on how much of the money you earned is taxed, and they then spend this money on non-governmental purposes, then they are no longer legitimate taxes, but they have become confiscatory taxes.

All legitimate governments have a duty and responsibility to protect the Natural Rights of the individuals within their society, as it is the individual that is the ruler of the government and the government that is the servant of the individuals. It was for this reason that The Declaration of Independence was passed, and the Constitution of the United States was adopted. And one of these Natural Rights is for the individual to keep and dispose of the fruits of their labor as they see fit, and the money you earned is the fruits of your labor and toil. Or as it has been said:

“I believe that every individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruits of his labor, so far as it in no way interferes with any other men’s rights.”
 - Abraham Lincoln

To not heed this advice of President Lincoln can lead to the following:

“You work and toil and earn bread, and I’ll eat it. No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.”
 - Abraham Lincoln

Whether it is a serf who labors and toils to have this work confiscated by a Lord, Prince, or King, or a slave who labors and toils to have this work confiscated by a master, or by a taxpayer who labors and toils to have this work confiscated by a government to give to non-taxpayers, it is the same tyrannical principle.

Today, in America, we have this situation where the government is spending monies that are not necessary and proper within the limited and enumerated powers of the government. And much of this spending is on what I have written in my article, “Entitlements”. Many would respond that entitlements are justified as what is best and fair for all Americans and are spent for equitable purposes and for the greater good of Americans. To this, I would respond as I have written on many Chirps on “04/09/21 Equitable and Equalities” and “10/20/20 The Greater Good”. As to the question of what is best and what is fair, I would remind my readers that best and fair is not objective but subjective to each person’s predilections, and therefore it is not possible to determine what is best or fair. I would also remind you of the following quotes of wisdom on what is best and fair:

“The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best.”
- Thomas Sowell

And to paraphrase Thomas Sowell:

 “The most basic question is not what is fair, but who shall decide what is fair.

As well as:

“What exactly is your ‘fair share’ of what ‘someone else’ has worked for?”
 - Thomas Sowell

And:

“No matter how worthy the cause, it is robbery, theft, and injustice to confiscate the property of one person and give it to another to whom it does not belong.”
 - Walter E. Williams