In another thread, Deliman said:
"If you are truly opposed to tax cuts on principle, then by all means pay more. The government will take you money."
Personally, if I felt as though I had a real choice regarding the government I had over myself and my family, I would gladly give. The obvious alternative to taxes are no government at all. Anarchy isn't for me; I'd rather live in a world where the roads functioned and businesses had to maintain standards for the sake of public health.
But I feel utterly disenfranchised by the government under which I live.
Now, if there were some other government I could just go live under, there'd be no problem. You don't like the rules at the dance club next door? Try across town; no problem. But as a Californian, I have to drive, fly, swim, or teleport hundreds of miles before there's anything different - and even then "different" means Mexico or Canada and not much else.
When a person is born into a system where all the rules are laid down by those who went before him, he often finds himself supporting things he thinks are reprehensible. He must pay for police to throw people in jail for things he thinks should be basic freedoms; he must pay for governmental agencies to kill innocent people (if you're on the left, think of civilians living in foreign countries; on the right, think of unborn babies). So why in the seven hells should he support taxes? He can go down and vote not to pay taxes, or to stop what he doesn't like, but we all know that it does no good.
Imagine having to go down and vote against everyone on your block deciding every homeowner had to 1. pay $400 to 2. kill all the pets who lived there and 3. paint every house blue. Actually voting in such an election heaps undeserved respect on the whole affair, especially when there is an alternative - moving one block over. Moving is the smart way to do it. But as an American, I'm totally stuck; I live on a block that's a million sqare miles big. I can't easily get anywhere where things are different.
In businesses, free market competition keeps things square. It's easy to switch from Coke to Pepsi or from Ford to Honda. If Ford pisses off the consumers, you can bet that Honda will be there to pick up the slack. But Governments rarely have to compete. Switching from America to Switzerland or Japan is, for most people, totally impossible. So the result shouldn't surprise us - with no better government adding competition to the mix, our government is totally nuts. I don't trust anything it does or believe in any person who represents it. The very best I've seen from it is incompetence.
Given this tirade, why should I support any tax hike, for any reason, ever? Is not everything this government does to its citizens just softcore tyrrany?
"If you are truly opposed to tax cuts on principle, then by all means pay more. The government will take you money."
Personally, if I felt as though I had a real choice regarding the government I had over myself and my family, I would gladly give. The obvious alternative to taxes are no government at all. Anarchy isn't for me; I'd rather live in a world where the roads functioned and businesses had to maintain standards for the sake of public health.
But I feel utterly disenfranchised by the government under which I live.
Now, if there were some other government I could just go live under, there'd be no problem. You don't like the rules at the dance club next door? Try across town; no problem. But as a Californian, I have to drive, fly, swim, or teleport hundreds of miles before there's anything different - and even then "different" means Mexico or Canada and not much else.
When a person is born into a system where all the rules are laid down by those who went before him, he often finds himself supporting things he thinks are reprehensible. He must pay for police to throw people in jail for things he thinks should be basic freedoms; he must pay for governmental agencies to kill innocent people (if you're on the left, think of civilians living in foreign countries; on the right, think of unborn babies). So why in the seven hells should he support taxes? He can go down and vote not to pay taxes, or to stop what he doesn't like, but we all know that it does no good.
Imagine having to go down and vote against everyone on your block deciding every homeowner had to 1. pay $400 to 2. kill all the pets who lived there and 3. paint every house blue. Actually voting in such an election heaps undeserved respect on the whole affair, especially when there is an alternative - moving one block over. Moving is the smart way to do it. But as an American, I'm totally stuck; I live on a block that's a million sqare miles big. I can't easily get anywhere where things are different.
In businesses, free market competition keeps things square. It's easy to switch from Coke to Pepsi or from Ford to Honda. If Ford pisses off the consumers, you can bet that Honda will be there to pick up the slack. But Governments rarely have to compete. Switching from America to Switzerland or Japan is, for most people, totally impossible. So the result shouldn't surprise us - with no better government adding competition to the mix, our government is totally nuts. I don't trust anything it does or believe in any person who represents it. The very best I've seen from it is incompetence.
Given this tirade, why should I support any tax hike, for any reason, ever? Is not everything this government does to its citizens just softcore tyrrany?
