How taxes helped destroy the Roman Empire

Kairos Journal has posted an insightful article explaining how taxes helped destroy the Roman Empire.  The parallels with our own situation makes this well worth reading. . .

How Taxes Helped Destroy the Roman Empire

What caused the decline and fall of the Roman Empire? Historians have debated this question for centuries and offered numerous and varied explanations. One has a strangely contemporary ring: Rome collapsed because the vitality of her empire and the loyalty of her subject peoples were extinguished by big government and oppressive taxation.    Continue article. . .

The roots of liberty and prosperity

We live in a time when a growing number of people are feeling insecure about their personal liberty and prosperity. At the same time, there is confusion about why this insecurity exists, and what to do about it. This presents us with a need to understand what the roots of liberty and prosperity actually are.

God made it clear from the beginning that He intended all who are made in His image to lead productive lives, cultivating the raw material of this world for good. He commanded that we be fruitful and multiply, and that we would take dominion over this earth and develop it.

The fulfillment of this call requires diligent, creative, and patient labor.

With the entrance of sin in this world, this task of dominion became difficult. There are thorns and thistles to contend with, and we labor by the sweat of our brow.

But the reality of sin also brought something else. It brought the need for protection from those who refuse to be faithful and productive themselves — and this led to the institution of civil government.