Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site unmvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!godot!harvard!seismo!cmcl2!lanl-a!unm-cvax!unmvax!cliff From: cliff@unmvax.UUCP Newsgroups: net.politics Subject: knee-jerk libertarians Message-ID: <459@unmvax.UUCP> Date: Fri, 5-Oct-84 15:45:18 EDT Article-I.D.: unmvax.459 Posted: Fri Oct 5 15:45:18 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 7-Oct-84 21:50:47 EDT References: <1704@inmet.UUCP> <2722@ucbcad.UUCP> Organization: Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque Lines: 38 > Look, I'm sick of hearing knee-jerk libertarians refer to everything that > the government does as 'extortion'. If you are responsible, and pay for > what the government does for you, it's not extortion or theft, it's just > paying for what you use. > > Wayne It is sad, but one consolation for those who are paying too much taxes is at least you don't get as much government as you pay for. Remember, the US went from 1789 to 1913 with no Constitutional authorization for income tax. I do believe that when the income tax amendment (++yes, the Constitution had to be *amended* {Article XVI I believe}) was being ratified that some congressmen thought a ceiling should be included, lest in the future we might face a tax as HIGH as 3% (three percent). Of course popular thought at that time believed a ceiling unnecessary, because Americans wouldn't stand for such larceny. ++this point is not directed at Wayne, but at people who may not have known or forgotten when/how income tax was brought about (I guess it is possible for some netters to remember a time before income tax, but only a few and certainly not me) Libertarians object to income tax, but not necessarily road fees (the roads should be owned by private industry and surely they could choose to collect fees). An effective military is one of the few things that most libertarians and Libertarians agree as a necessity. How to fund it is another matter, and military waste is a third. Let's not paint libertarians as irresponsible and I won't try to portray the Democrats under Mondale as *purposefully* trying to ruin the economy. Both groups mean well and if your article meant only to object to the unthinking libertarians (a subset of the unthinking masses) then I apologize. My interpretation was that you meant to castigate anyone opposed to income tax. --Cliff [Matthews] {lbl-csam, purdue, cmcl2}!lanl-a!unm-cvax!unmvax!cliff {csu-cs, pur-ee, convex, gatech, ucbvax}!unmvax!cliff 4744 Trumbull S.E. - Albuquerque NM 87108 - (505) 265-9143