When Wendy mentioned to me her "motivation #2" for the frugal philosophy -- resisting the state -- the first thing that popped into my mind was "Galt's Gulch." Because what we are doing is very similar to what John Galt and his fellows did when they went "on strike" and withdrew to Galt's Gulch. We are denying the State and its army of leeches, not the product of our minds as such, but rather our productivity.

The lifeblood of the State is taxes. And the two biggest kinds of tax that most people pay are income taxes and consumption taxes (sales tax, gasoline tax, alcohol tax, etc.). If you can learn to live on less money, you can deny the State money twice -- when you no longer spend it, and when you no longer earn it.

Consider an acquaintance of mine who buys the latest and fastest computer every year. Let's say it's a $2000 computer. Here, we pay combined sales taxes of 14%, so he has to fork over another $280 at the time of purchase. Now assume he's in a 33% tax bracket. He has to earn $3,403, to pay $2,280, to get $2000 worth of computer. To get that computer he has to pay $1,403 in taxes.

From my viewpoint, every year I don't buy a fancy new PC is a year I've kept $1,403 out of the rapacious maw of the State.

This doesn't mean I'm working as a railroad laborer instead of as a physicist. No, I still work in my chosen profession, but only as many hours as I need to meet my very modest needs. This lets me "purchase" the most valuable commodity of all -- my time, to apply as I see fit in other ways to enrich my life.

I've met many libertarians that wistfully wish they could move to a real Galt's Gulch, to go "on strike" and deny the State the fruits of their labor. You can do this, at home, perfectly legally. All it takes is an adjustment of attitude and the development of new habits. Should this catch on -- and, with a recession underway, frugality may become more a matter of necessity than choice -- there will be not one, but thousands of "Frugalista Gulches."