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Ummmm, yeah thats what I meant.
Your opinion on the feelings of "right wingers" is not based in reality but in your own personal bias.
You are engaging in exactly the type of stereotyping behavior that the Left claims to abhor.
You're saying I'm wrong, but you're not proving I'm wrong.
Are libertarians extreme right wingers or centrists in your opinion?
I only know one libertarian really well. A very smart guy. He is centrist to liberal on social issues and very conservative on fiscal issues. And generally thinks most libertarians he associates with are hypocrites and mouth breathers. Personally, I think he leans a bit towards "conspiracy" style thinking.
Choosing to give them the respect of capitalization?
No. With a lower case 'l', it is referring to people who claim to abide libertarian values. With an upper case 'L', it is referring to members of a specific political party.
No. With a lower case 'l', it is referring to people who claim to abide libertarian values. With an upper case 'L', it is referring to members of a specific political party.
I know, it was a joke. Though I'm not sure your two types are mutually exclusive.
When you take the product of someone else's labor against their wishes that is theft.
When it's the mafia doing it, it's called extortion. When the government does it, it's called taxation. But the action itself is identical. It is people on the left wing who say things like tax cuts cause higher deficits and lower taxes cost the government revenue who are the extremists. They indicate a lack of understanding of the concept of private property.
Saying that taxation is theft does not imply that taxation isn't necessary for society to operate. It just indicates that the emphasis should be placed where it belongs: when a citizen works to earn a dollar, that citizen should keep as much of that dollar as possible, not the government. By keeping in mind the reality that taxation involves government confiscating the fruits of someone else's labor, it helps to keep ideas about what are and aren't proper levels of taxation in perspective. Just because the government could use another dollar of your pay, doesn't make the government morally entitled to take it.
Well said.
Once more, any thoughtful, pragmatic libertarian of any standard flavor will grudgingly acknowledge taxation as the revenue source for even the most limited of governments. Clearly governments produce nothing besides laws, rules and barriers, so they need a revenue. So yes, taxation must exist if a government exists. But simply because taxation must exist does not require taxation to be arbitrary, unfair, tyrannical, wasteful, oppressive or punitive.
Taxes that are taken arbitrarily and involuntarily are theft. That's axiomatic. If I initiate force against you by taking your property without your consent, I am stealing from you. My identity and purpose for the theft do not change the nature of the act itself. But to the folks who want to argue with false dilemmas, NOT ALL TAXES ARE ARBITRARY AND/OR INVOLUNTARY, thus not all taxes are theft.
The gasoline tax and toll fees that fund roads are a perfect example of agreeable, proper taxation. The government paid some contractors to build a road, and that road required labor, materials, upkeep, etc. That costs money. So if you use that road, we'll make you pay a toll because that road is nice and we need cash to keep it that way, and we'll tax the gas you buy to make the car go for the same reason. But you choose how much "road tax" you pay based on your own individual behavior. Live close to work and either walk or ride a bicycle everywhere, and your road taxes are probably near $0. Registration, licensing fees, etc. USE TAX...not very complicated.
The other thing with taxes like gasoline, tolls, registration fees, etc is that they are specific to the purpose they are collected for, they are equally levied to any all citizens, and they benefit each citizen the same. We all pay the same percentage of gas tax. We all pay the same tolls, and all registration fees are either equal or based on the vehicle's value. And all those fees go to a common purpose all people can use equally. Roads prove that taxes can be minimal, specific, fair and dictated by individual behavior. It's why "what about roads??" is one of my favorite false dilemmas, because it actually proves the libertarian argument that taxes can easily be fair and more voluntary.
You're saying I'm wrong, but you're not proving I'm wrong.
What, you want me to provide a post full links, graphs and pie charts to prove that you're stereotyping? Lol
How about just the well publicized fact that Conservatives give much more to charity that Liberals do?
They do this of their own free will.
On the other hand, Liberals think it's the governments job to force the rich (all evil conservatives in your world view) to give to the poor through forced wealth re-distribution.
Your view on Conservatives is based on stereotypes of the rich being inherently evil simply by virtue of being rich and the poor being inherently good simply by virtue of being poor.
But I am evidently wasting my breath.....how does one prove that the sky is blue to a blind man?
Last edited by FatBob96; 03-19-2015 at 08:41 AM..
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