The State has the authority to tax for the common good

Sorry, but it just does.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3* For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4* for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; he is the servant of God to execute his wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7* Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. (Romans 13:1-7)

So the people in my comboxes who are toying with the uber-libertarian fairy tale that the state cannot compel citizens to pay for the common good and that our whole tax system, made voluntary, will reap a bountiful harvest of charitable giving, causing the state to wither away is as much a fantasy on the libertarian front as it was among Commies. The state exists because we are fallen. And though it is indeed a fine thing for people to give freely and not due to compulsion to support the common good, the reality is that people are fallen and greedy and look out for Numero Uno. So the state remains necessary precisely to see that justice, not charity, is done.

So it is, for example, midsummer madness and not Catholic to say of tornado victims, “They should have had insurance and the state has no business helping them.” The state has every business helping them. It is the entity with the resources necessary to do so and it is folly to expect rescue and cleanup to self-organize without state resources. Same with war. Same with numerous other endeavor requiring a high level of coordination. The state exists to serve the common good. That it often does so poorly means nothing other than that the state needs reform, not abolition. Haiti and Somalia are libertarian paradises.

This is why I’m not an enthusiastic Ron Paul supporter but merely a “he’s the least worst” candidate supporter.