Originally, this tax was relatively small, and many Christians and Jews found that the business advantages of living in the Muslim world far outweighed the cost of the tribute extracted; they ignored the broader implications of paying the dhimmi's jizya. For a while. While Europe was still ensnared in the throes of the fall of Rome, Arabia was by contrast less oppressive to the trader and the innovator, and as a result Arabia flowered. Trade between Europe and central Asia flourished, and some of the wealth created fostered individual creativity.
Some of these innovations include Arabic numerals, the concept of zero, rediscovery of various astronomical phenomena, and innovations in science and metallurgy. But as the climate south of the Mediterranean sea grew hotter and drier, and with the start of the Crusades and later the scourge of the Mongols, agriculture became more difficult, wealth became more precious, tribal and national warfare and the glorification of the warrior became the norm, and the culture of Islam grew less wealthy and more intolerant. The jizya, the dhimmi tax on unbelievers, became more and more burdensome, and the potential of tolerant innovative Islam was strangled in its crib.
Today, unbelievers subject to the rule of Islam must pay exorbitant sums to their oppressors and destroyers for the privilege of their punishment. The Jizya of 900 AD, that token payment of tribute to a benevolent ruling religion, has today become utterly destructive. Today, Christian and Jewish residents in Islamic areas, especially those falling under the rule of Al-Queda or their allies the Muslim Brotherhood, are treated especially harshly. Rational residents of these presently united States are today repulsed by such tribalist savagery and condemn the brutal totalitarian oppression being exhibited. I find it interesting, however, that many well-meaning people are shocked or surprised that such things can happen.
While no religion can excuse or justify the violation of individual rights, once those people subject to Islamic rule accepted the terms proposed by their masters, and agreed to pay their oppressors, the end result was foredoomed. Once one surrenders the principles underpinning individual liberty, the destruction of everything upon which Liberty depends is inevitable. The shocking Islamic destruction of today, so repulsive to so many, could be easily predicted by a philosopher or an epistemologist based on past surrender of principle. "Well," some may say, "What do you expect from a culture of savage sheep-stealers? What has this to do with me? *I* live in a modern free country, and such things cannot happen here!"
Really?
A hundred years ago, the people of these presently united States, or at least a preponderance of these States, agreed to modify the Constitution to impose a direct tax on the people. (Or so the generally accepted narrative goes; there is some evidence that the 16th amendment may not have been ratified at all, but that is irrelevant to this discussion at present; perhaps more anon.) We were promised that this American jizya, excuse me, this income tax, would be a small one, and only imposed on the wealthy. We were told that the income tax would be only 1% of the income of those making over $3,000 dollars per year, and that the proceeds were to be used to pay off the costs of the War between the States. We were told that it was "past time to retire the debts of the past."
And what has been the result? The Progressive income tax has grown from 1% on the rich to over 30% or more on the productive middle class; if you include indirect effects of the income tax and the hidden tax of inflation caused by spending money we do not have in the Treasury, 7/8ths or more of our production is lost to taxation. And what does our jizya buy? What has the consent of the productive created?
The wealth each of us willingly consented to pay and the debt our 'representatives' have incurred in our name, has fueled an expansion of collectivist Progressivism unparalleled in human history. Our funded debt is thousands of times greater than it was 100 years ago, the value of the dollar has fallen by over 98%, and our unfunded obligations exceed the GDP of the planet Earth. The Progressive religious fanatics now striving for absolute dominance over these presently united States have created a bureaucracy which regulates every aspect of our lives, which brutally punishes those who do not agree with the cult that worships the State, and which demands that the productive consent to further invasions of what is left of our rights.
That is what the submission of the productive has brought about; all of the stifling regulations, the unread legislation and the abuse of the Law are produced and fertilized by your sweat. The productive people of this country have built the engine of their destruction and that destruction is inevitable and now well underway. The question is, what will rise in place of it, and how long will it be before individualism triumphs? Making the Fourth Branch bigger will not make the problems we have any smaller. In 1916, it was possible for resistance to occur, but it did not; few people worried about a small tax, and that principle was surrendered. In 2013, simple discussion of limiting the growth of government can subject you to being 'disappeared,' held without trial as an enemy of the State and subjected to tortures and execution without trial or notice, at the whim of the Government.
Ask yourself these questions:
Today, why do you, gentle reader, continue to consent to paying your destroyers? Why do you obey the dictates of the Caliphate of Morder-on-the-Potomac?
Every penny you contribute in taxation goes to make the destruction of these presently united States more complete. If you love the ideals that this nation used to stand for, why are you not attempting, wherever possible, to reduce or eliminate your support of evil? Why do you willingly lend the power of your own mind to those who are already committed to your destruction?
Why do you pay the Progressive Jizya?
To put it more succinctly, I'll close with one of my favorite poems, by my favorite poet, Rudyard Kipling:
Dane-Geld
A.D. 980-1016
It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
To call upon a neighbour and to say: --
"We invaded you last night-- we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away."
And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld
And then you'll get rid of the Dane!
It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say: --
"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away."
And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we've proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say: --
"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that pays it is lost!"
A nation or a single individual, the principle is the same. For further information see "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. It is worth the time you will spend to read those 1084 pages.
With regard to all who serve the Light,
Historian