jmangan:
The money isn't just taken from one person and given to another. Tax dollars go into roads, bridges, schools, prisons, national defense, water systems, sewer systems on and on. O yea, some of it goes to subsidize farmers, poor people, businesses and science and the arts. That's what makes a good society work. Some of it isn't well spent, and we need to constantly keep our eye on that. But to portray taxes as money that is stolen from us is ludicrous. And to advocate lynching and rioting is not only stupid, but criminal.
I hope the moderaters are reading this, Mike Hignite.
I respectfully disagree. How is it that taxes are not stolen from us? That is exactly what is happening.
A man asks me for money to help the poor (maybe it's true, and maybe it's for him. I don't know). I say it's my money and I refuse. He and his gang of 534 friends tell me I better give them the money, or they threaten me with bodily harm. I still refuse. They use force to take what is mine. If I continue to resist, he beats me or kills me. Once they have my money, maybe they give it to the poor, buy crack, or hell, maybe give me cab fare home!
How does it make a difference if I just replace "man" with "taxman"? The exact same thing is going on. You just aren't used to seeing what is really going on under the magic curtain of the word "government".
I disagree that what makes a good society work is taking money by force from one group and giving it to another group or purpose. I know that is what we've been doing, but that doesn't make it good. All those things you mentioned are great, schools, infrastructure etc. But that doesn't mean that forcing people to do it the way our government has done it in the past is good. People are able to make their own decisions for their own best interest and for those around them without getting locked into government bureacracy and stagnation. You may have noticed that government is particularly poor at picking winners in the economy.
Finally, please read my post. I never ADVOCATED lynching and rioting; you are correct, that would be illegal. I'm only pointing out that throughout history, rulers have been deposed violently by the ruled, and it looks to me like we could see those circumstances here.