three questions...

[bullmoose88]

Some say we're extreme like it's a bad thing. I disagree. To quote Goldwater "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice".  I mean a moderate libetarian (not that I know of any) would hardly get anything done. As for abolishing the IRS, I'm for it.  America existed some 120 odd years before the income tax and did very well before it was enacted.  We didn't have to worry about tax brackets, or tax cuts for the rich or any of that stuff.  Why should the government take any of the money you work so hard to earn?

Lemme compare this with a more "moderate" stance.  If we turned the income tax into a plain simple 5% flat tax, it wouldn't last long at all.  When politicians "make a tax cut permanent", permanent means for how ever long that group of people is in power.  This 5% tax may be nice for a while, but it will only be a matter of time before it goes to 7%, then 10%, then 15%, then 30%.

However if we abolish this tax completely, we can be pretty sure we won't see it again.  Politicians will be very afriad to speak of it coming back because it will be incredibly unpopular and could risk their re-election.

I appreciate your response.  Yes, I think I agree with Goldwater's statement to some degree.  For example, it was extreme to take out armies against the people of South Carolina when it's legislature would not yield a fort which belonged to the US.  The action, signature GOP with it's God'n'Glory shoot-first ask questions later mentality, was extreme, resulting in the deaths of about 800 thousand people, but imho was the right thing to do.  Our country likely wouldn't exist if the GOP hadn't the balls to stand up to the democrats.  You can be it would have fallen apart and reverted back to an imperial playground for the Europeans.  It's extreme to allow a hundred guilty men go free in order to avoid wrongly convicting an innocent man, but again, imho it's the right thing to do.   I'm a big fan of certain forms of extremism.  Hell, our country was born of a violent, and illegal, revolution.  So, in a historical sense, extremism is our birthright.

But the world has changed since Jefferson.  Sure, the USA did okay for 120 years before the taxes started.  But for those 120 years social mores were different as well.  Longevities of 50 years were perfectly acceptable.  Literacy rates of 40% among the adult population was normal.  And infant mortality was high, but who cares?  You should have ten children if you want to have four adult children one day, since you know your baby has a 4 in 10 chance of getting to his/her 18th birthday.  I guess I'm a tad more moralistic than the average Libertarian, or even the average Republican, for that matter.  It just bothers me on some level when I think that the society can do more to help it's most disaffected members.  No, I'm not pushing for gun control, or affirmative action, and I'm not against vouchers or against "personalizing" Social Security, because I'm not part of the bandwagon that has ceased thinking for itself, and in fact I think that bandwagon approach can harm society even more than just ignoring problems, if they're left unchecked.  My point is, would you really want to return to the America wherein the "average" man lives only 50 years, where the "average" woman should have ten children if she wants four, and where the "average" family has no idea how to read the directions that come with the appliances it just bought?  I would not.

I have more than my family and I need.  Now, I'm not some overly-altruistic idealist who gives away the farm, but I don't mind the government taking a few thousand dollars from me every year to help ensure that the streets are safe and clean, that the sidewalks are in a good state of repair, that the woman behind the counter is sufficiently educated to help me out with my problem when I come in to complain, and to know that there's a hospital nearby where my son can get his arm set should he accidentally break it.

No surprise that I agree with angus 110.04% here.