Sh*t you're liberal about/Sh*t you're conservative about

[Precocity]

[Indy]

You're going to lose some people (ahem) if you insist on concessions like if we're paying taxes we're giving in to "force," etc.

Because I can already guess where that one is going...

[The Dharma Bum]

Will the government force you to pay taxes, if you refuse? Then it is inarguably a use of force.

Your problem is that you aren't intellectually honest enough to admit that to yourself. Once you do that, then you can try to justify the use of force to extract funding from the population. Until then you aren't saying anything rational.

[Precocity]

[Indy]

@Precocity
No sorry for it was for JKG the timing is off here--it was about his definitions.

Dharma:
Sorry, but I'm not going to whine about tyranny because I have to pay taxes. Taxes are the cost of a civilized society. How MUCH you are taxed and for what are certainly fair game.

But when you talk about "force" and all these Vader-esque implications, I think: North Korea. Not: OMG I have to pay SS taxes!

Just an FYI. I know in Libertarian/anarchist circles that kind of stuff es muy popular but to most Americans it's sort of esoteric.

[J.K. Gregg]

No tyranny. No hyperbole. The definition of taxes are "a compulsory contribution to state revenue." We have to come to terms with what it is. Whether or not you think it's right or wrong, or that they should be high or low, is a different story. But what no one can deny is that taxes are compulsory -- they are taken by force.

[Indy]

Well yeah: but when you keep saying taken "by force" you make it sound like jackbooted troops knocking down your door and forcibly taking something from you or something totally sinister. Not sure that kind of language is necessary.

[J.K. Gregg]

[Indy]

How are you going to fund the gov't then?

[Precocity]