The Nation Dreamt into Existence

Would you voluntarily pay taxes you didn't owe to a country in which you didn't reside? What about paying taxes to a country which does not even exist?! Such questions sound absurd -- especially for us Libertarians -- but there is a real-world example of this in the establishment of the Republic of Ireland.

In 1919, Irish revolutionary Éamon de Valera waved farewell to cheering crowds in Dublin and indignantly onlooking British colonial officials (whose jail he had escaped shortly before!). De Valera was off to a whirlwind tour of his birthplace, the United States, seeking recognition from the American public, and a good deal of money to boot! His upbringing in Ireland had infused him with that brand of boldness which characterizes the Irish people, which meant that de Valera was untroubled by the fact that he was seeking recognition and funds for a country which did not yet exist.

De Valera reached the USA in June 1919 and immediately began courting supporters. From New York to Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Alabama, California, Montana, Illinois, Colorado, Florida and Utah, de Valera crossed North America to address crowds numbering tens of thousands in many instances. Mayors handed him the keys to their cities, universities conferred honorary doctorates on him, journalists furnished him with extensive coverage, and Irish immigrants, their descendants and well-wishers voluntarily contributed their hard-earned money to the weal of the Irish Republic, then more an aspiration than a hard truth.

To call these contributions “taxes” may be a stretch only in a technical sense. Éamon de Valera was selling bonds backed by the revolutionary government, the Dáil Éireann. Incidentally, even modern American taxpayers may be familiar with the sense of the Internal Revenue Service considering our taxes as “loans” to be returned at a later date, which is why you sometimes (hopefully!) receive refunds on taxes paid. In contrast, the IRS collects taxes (by force or threat) for a myriad of functions, many of which will never be disclosed to taxpayers. Contrast that to the supporters meeting de Valera during his U.S. tour, who voluntarily contributed to a still undefined country, with undefined governmental functions to finance… and in aggregate they did this to the sum of 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙮-𝙛𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙙𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙨! (adjusted for inflation)

Of course we have to recognize that the future Irish Republic -- which de Valera went on to serve as Taoiseach ("prime minister") and later President -- would at some point have to impose taxes in order to repay the bonds, but it is beyond this piece to recount how that was done. What matters for our present consideration is that the people of Ireland – both on the isle and in diaspora – recognized enough affinity with one another in a struggle spanning 700 years, that they pooled their time, treasure and their very blood, to bring into existence a nation to call their own.

Originally published via Facebook on St. Patrick’s Day, 2023.