Path: utzoo!hoptoad!cpsc6a!rtech!mtxinu!ucbvax!ucsd!nmtsun!wombat
From: wombat@nmtsun.nmt.edu (Christopher M. Conway)
Newsgroups: alt.individualism
Subject: Re: MY :-) stereo
Message-ID: <3751@nmtsun.nmt.edu>
Date: 19 Jan 90 20:03:27 GMT
References: <2310@odin.SGI.COM> <12569@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <2356@odin.SGI.COM> <1990Jan13.090428.25775@agate.berkeley.edu> <2818@odin.SGI.COM> <8ZggXmy00W0TM96LF=@andrew.cmu.edu> <2847@odin.SGI.COM> <21673@unix.cis.pitt.edu> <2908@odin.SGI.COM> <13029@phoenix.Prin
Reply-To: wombat@nmtsun.nmt.edu (Christopher M. Conway)
Distribution: usa
Organization: MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Lines: 50

In article <13029@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> roger@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Roger Lustig) writes:
>Why?  Because we ARE to some extent in a lifeboat!  People are, this
>very moment, dying for want of essentials that others have and can live
>without!!!
>
>And a propertarian system does not address this problem!

	Nor does any form of government other than socialism or communism.
	And we can all SEE how bankrupt those systems are.
	There is enough food extant in the world to feed everyone; the
	problem is distribution. If governments got out of the way, then
	maybe, just maybe, people (like you) who are concerned over these
	inequities would do something about it!

>But taxation is also UNLIKE theft!

	Agreed. Taxation is not theft. Taxation is extortion. If I don't
	pay my taxes, Uncle Sam comes and impounds my bank account, my car,
	my house, and my cats. He then throws me into prison. Frankly, I
	prefer Guido's style-- he just breaks my legs.

>Thieves don't tend to steal an equal amount from EVERYBODY, including
>themselves.  (I know, taxation is not equal; but it's not done at
>random, either, the way theft is.)

	If it's not completely equal, then it is unfair. And how many
	politicians tax themselves "fairly" to start with? Ever see what
	Ronnie paid in taxes each year, for example?

>Thieves don't offer joint control of the stolen goods to all the
>victims.  

	Nor does Uncle Sam. I don't want my money wasted on the
	grotesquely excessive defense budget; nor do I want any of
	the social programs funded. I will never receive a penny
	from these (no, not that I think I won't ever be allowed to--
	it's  that I won't, even if eligible-- I think they're WRONG.
	I'm also part American Indian. However, I do not claim this
	in order to get preferential treatment under quotas. I prefer
	to justify myself by my own talents. Besides, the fraction
	of AmerInd IS rather small... B^)). I don't want to give
	money to social (in)security-- it's a pyramid scheme. I'd
	rather invest that money for my retirement myself. Do I really
	have any chance of controlling the money extorted from me
	for these ends? Is a congressman going to listen to me, a lone
	voice, or the thousands of welfare recipients and elderly who
	don't pay taxes but DO vote? Several tens or hundreds of thousands
	to one? They won't even give the candidates for office that
	I do support the same chance that multiparty candidates in the
	Soviet block currently get!