The more I do my research on how to continue working for the Bible Society of Slovenia after my student status expires, which is after I graduate (hopefully sometime late this year), the more I see the truth in how things go, how the cogs of the wold tick, and what we, mere mortals, are to the operators of these movements. We are, as Orwell put it well, merely cows to be milked and sometimes even eaten; and the State is the Farm. One problem though: there is absolutely no wilderness anymore, where we could live as natural beings, real humans. But let’s put the Human Farm aside for a moment.
We hear from the entire world about unemployment, sometimes we are even startled about the high figures. I think none of us likes to be in a spot where we cannot provide for ourselves and our loved ones. I don’t believe that people, at least most of us, want people to be poor. Those of us who are Christian often care a lot about poor people, but in this day-and-age sometimes we distance ourselves, even not intentionally, from them and we forget a lot about what makes us tick. And by this I don’t just mean in a spiritual way. Because at the end of the day knowing God means a world to us and it changes us. Knowing God is supposed to make a difference in us. Regardless of the circumstances God does provide, He gives just enough. But. Yeah, I know… there had tu be a “But,” right… But as much as God provides us opportunities and ways and miraculously even whispers into people’s lives to donate when in need, it does seem, that He doesn’t really care about the regulations of the world. Let’s face it, if the State knew about anonymous donations from one person to another without being able to dip it’s nasty finger into it, she would most likely do it and most likely also punish you for doing it. Or let’s say you help a friend of yours, as a Christian, by hiring that friend of yours in a very free-market way to do something (whatever it is) so that you and them are better off at the end of the day. And hopefully you even join in worshiping God whilst working together out of your pocket. You know… in a similar way as your grandpa once “hired” you to mow the lawn, or when your grandma “hired you” to help her out by let’s say writing a letter for her to send. In the same way as then, it should seem perfectly legitimate, to “hire” your friend now. But. (oh, those “but”s) But if you did that it would be against the law. What changed? At the end of the day, if the State would be as intrusive as it has recently (at least in Slovenia) starting to become, even your grandma (though legitimately) “hiring” you would be braking the law. Frédéric Bastiat was right when he said “The Law perverted.” This is not Law anymore. This is the perversion of it.
The law perverted! The law—and, in its wake, all the collective forces of the nation—the law, I say, not only diverted from its proper direction, but made to pursue one entirely contrary! The law become the tool of every kind of avarice, instead of being its check! The law guilty of that very iniquity which it was its mission to punish! Truly, this is a serious fact, if it exists, and one to which I feel bound to call the attention of my fellow citizens.
We hold from God the gift that, as far as we are concerned, contains all others, Life—physical, intellectual, and moral life.
But life cannot support itself. He who has bestowed it, has entrusted us with the care of supporting it, of developing it, and of perfecting it. To that end, He has provided us with a collection of wonderful faculties; He has plunged us into the midst of a variety of elements. It is by the application of our faculties to these elements that the phenomena of assimilation and of appropriation, by which life pursues the circle that has been assigned to it are realized.
Existence, faculties, assimilation—in other words, personality, liberty, property—this is man.
— Frédéric Bastiat, Law
So why do we obey this perverted law? Why do we want to do things legally? Why do we want so desperately to be, with few exceptions, so law abiding citizens? Even though I believe most of that is because of the public school indoctrination programs, I must confess, that it is more likely that it is in our human nature to do the right thing. Yes, my dear fellow Christians. I said it. I do believe sin is the deep root that makes us do bad things. We are sinful. But we were not meant to be. We were created to do good. Even in Eden God said about a man, whom He created, that it was good. God knew that the Man had capacity and freedom to sin. But he had a plan to save them. He had the plan to save us so that we would be able to live in His presence and majesty for eternity. But what about this world? Who is Man? Do you really believe that Man is inherently evil? I refuse to accept this. I cannot. I cannot believe that sin equals evil. It can prompts us to do evil, it removes us from the glory of God, but at the end of the day I can’t look into my fellow human’s eyes seeing him as inherently evil. I want to cooperate with him, be friendly to him. Most people I know, Christians and non-Christians alike, seem to do the right thing, strive for good. True, sometimes our flesh desires go into the mode wherein we think of good things as means for selfish desires, thus rendering them even sinful. But that’s what means to be human. Without God’s help we’re broken. Do we therefore need an inherently evil institution (the State), that is the exact opposite of who we as people are?
You might ask, what does this have to do with a job… It has to do with our framework, with our world-view, and how the evil structures of the world (that do exist) have since corrupted it. You see, we tell kids, to stand up for themselves. We tell them to do good unto other and the good will be returned somehow. We tell them to financially never get outside of their means, not to get in debt. We tell them to give fair compensations, and we often give them fair compensations for things they probably didn’t even have to do in the first place. We invite them to learn “on the job” with us when we do handy things around the house, not tell them to read a textbook about that. These things, and more, are all the things that were supposed to be when doing work, when being in business (mind that the public school undoes all of those things in most cases). And yet “fair” compensation cannot happen. How could it. If you wanted to hire someone you first have to register for some sort of legal personality. If you wanted to legally work for someone without being a burden to them, you must also have some sort of legal personality. If you want to legitimately keep what you earned (or made for that matter) you basically can’t or you have to do it in the black market. The latter generally means no legal protection (unless you are in Somalia where Government doesn’t really exist or in some very organized mafia, but then legal in both cases means what it would mean for natural persons a century or two ago amongst natural persons only). All of that kind of makes us want to be obedient to this evil State, because we really don’t want trouble, we do want peace, we do want legal protection against natural or legal persons with whom we are in dispute, we want justice; we don’t like nor want sin and evil. We really do believe that the State will provide all of that, despite the evidence to the contrary. Moreover we insist that we and all the rest must be incorporated with the State in order to sell or hire.
Okay, maybe not all of us. But then again… even I want to be in least hassle and not be in trouble with the State. I want to live free, in peace with Man, to be able to do business in a civilized (whatever that means today) conduct, freely hire or fire one. And so, as I said, I am, in spite my libertarian tendencies (often very anarchic) searching for a way to declare a legal personality (open a business) so that I can legally (you see, how this goes) continue to serve God in the Bible Society of Slovenia and hopefully at some time in the future be able to survive without living at my parent’s house, to sustain myself and I pray to be once able to create a family without being a burden for nobody (taxpayers, family, friends, ekklesia, etc). It seems the latter is wishful thinking, because the “social” state is asocially making me, and everyone else, be a burden to everyone else. But, let’s say that at some point I will have to accept that, though it’s highly inconvenient. You see… the problem I wanted to say, is that it’s not a problem to get a job. It’s a problem to get paid, legally at least. Right now, whilst being a student, it’s relatively easy, though Slovenian Government just recently made it waaay more expensive to hire. Luckily we have a company at home, so that I can do a few things to legally avoid certain taxes, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult. Even the friend of mine I used to be able to hire legally I now can’t, because her added value is smaller than that of the minimal hourly wage that the State superimposed for students in February. And so the job that was once available is now gone, because of regulations, sanctions, taxes and other things that are preventing work. While I will still be hiring my friend, because it’s better for me and for her with that arrangement, I will have to mathematically be inventive to pay her or just do it out of my own pocket… you know the story from earlier… It is completely legitimate and actually quite Christian. You see what predicament I am in? To serve my fellow humans legitimately or not do anything at all? By the way, shouldn’t this also fall into “religious freedoms” area of laws? Oh well…
I assume I am not the only one who is in a similar predicament, even if they are not Christian. Some ignore laws of the State, legitimately so, some use tax heavens to shield what they made, also legitimately, some run away to countries that are easier to set up business so that they can create a better future for them selves and their heirs. The bottom line is, that I am sick and tired of the powers of this world that enslave us, unduly and illegitimately burden us with taxes, with perverted laws and regulations. And for those of us who want to live peacefully and freely it makes is so troublesome that we can often feel unable to even breathe at times.
Remember the next time someone says “There is no jobs!” to tell them, that there would be plenty of “jobs” or at least opportunities, had we been at liberty to conduct our relations and business with people freely with all we have. Remember that you deserve only as much as you had earned, no more, no less. And remember, it’s easy to get “a job,” it’s just incredibly difficult to legally get paid.