Originally Posted by liberty1776

What makes an action wrong? Is an action wrong because it is against moral law, or is an action wrong because some people say it is?

What I gather from your post is that you believe that things are wrong because they have been forbidden by a group of people, namely the government. According to this idea of right and wrong, nothing is wrong unless the gov't says it is. So, if gov't didn't makes laws against theft, theft would not be wrong. Taking this one step further, if gov't says that it can steal, then that is not wrong. After all, gov't decides what is right and what is wrong. If gov't says that it can steal, the the action of the gov't stealing is not wrong.

This is, of course, insane. But this is the conclusion that is implicit in your argument. If it is wrong for a private indivdual to steal, it is wrong for a group of private indivduals to steal, and it is wrong for a group of private indivduals to get other people to steal for them.

While taxation is not against statutory law, it is against moral law. The only just use of statutory law is to codify moral law. Governments cannot legitimatly "make law", they can only codify existing, moral law.

So, I ask you, what makes government different from private indivduals? How do you reconcile your views with Jefferson when he wrote that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed? Or do you disagree with this argument that Jefferson makes?

If you agree with it, and continue to maintain that my living in America is the same as giving my consent, how can you justify the American Revolution? Weren't the colonists simply giving their consent by living in an English territory? And, it was much more simple for them to get what they wanted than it is for me to get what I wanted. All they had to do was move to England and they would have had the same rights as every other Englishman.