Originally published at Am I the Only One Dancing?. Please leave any comments there.

When you find me struggling with the obvious on wage and labor issues, remember that I spent nearly a decade as a libertarian before I slowly, painfully reasoned my way back to a supporter of a well regulated economy with capitalism as the engine and liberalism as a steering wheel.

A friend who is deeply involved in the Occupy movement posted the picture to the left on Facebook a couple of days ago, and it let loose a cascade of thoughts that drew a little of that old poison from my wounds.

My old reactionary core rose up in protest. Really? You’re going to go there? And then I paused. It’s a really good question. Its opposite is asked many, many times in libertarian and conservative circles. At what point is taxation theft? And if it is always theft, then why is it not also theft to take the benefits of another person’s labor, and profit from it? 

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