Judah, I love you. seriously. -- Beth in Alaska Mom to Monk, Owner of Pirate and Toklat Philosophical Moms - http://www.philosophicalmoms.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "Judah McAuley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "cf-community" <cf-community@houseoffusion.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 8:08 PM Subject: Its not just about you > Yes. It seems just. Its called a social compact. People with popular > opinions don't need protection of free speech as much as people with > unpopular opinions. People with lots of money don't have to worry > about being homeless as much as the poor. Government in the United > States is founded on the notion of protecting the least as much as > enabling the most. Liberté, égalité, fraternité. > > All taxes are a redistribution of wealth. It is stupid to pretend > otherwise. But it is the price of living in a civilization. > > Government comes from the desire of a people to protect and enhance > itself. Establish common defense. Reduce friction between groups. > Ensure equality before the law. If it is to genuinely serve the people > that supposedly comprise it, it must serve all of them, not just some > of them. And that requires sacrifices of everyone involved. > > You talk about taxes being a "disincentive to work". That is total > bullshit. If someone offers me a job at $100,000 a year here in > Portland I'm going to jump at it. It would put me in a higher tax > bracket so I'd not only be paying more in taxes, I'd be paying a > larger percentage of my salary in taxes. But you know what? I don't > care. Sure I may look at my pay stub and grumble about the amount > taken out. I may fantasize about what I could do with the money that > was taken out in taxes. But I'm still going to end up bring home more > than I bring home now. And if those taxes are going to make better > schools for my daughter, if they are going to provide better health > care for less money and they are going to improve the future of my > state and country, then I'm damn happy to pay them. > > You don't get to just say "it's my money" like it magically appeared > in your pocket without any influence from anything else in the world. > The job you have and the money you make is a result of a huge number > of factors of which you and your hard work is only one. It depends on > the history of our nation, it depends on the natural resources of our > land, it depends on the education you received as a child, it depends > on the immunizations you got that were developed with public funding, > it depends on clean water, clean air and fertile land, it depends on > the taxes paid out and invested for the generations before you. > > In short...its not just about you. You are the happy beneficiary of > all the work and toil and thoughtful planning that has come before > you. And it depends even on the unchosen circumstance of how, where > and to whom you were born. All of this has come together to create a > place where you can use the gifts given to you and the platform built > for you to put in hard work and be rewarded for it. But that does not > excuse you from giving back and you are a unpatriotic prick if you > think it does. It's not just about you. > > Judah > > On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 8:02 PM, Robert Munn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Why does it bother me that some politician in Washington wants to take my >> money and hand it to someone else? It's my money. Democrats seems to >> think >> that my money is their money to do with whatever they like. All they have >> to >> do is raise taxes and take it from me. >> >> Oh sure, they'll have loads of great things to do with that money- mostly >> giving it away in checks to the people who vote for them. Does that seem >> fair to you, does that seem just? It seems like a bad deal to me. The >> issue, >> just so we're clear, isn't the money- it is the choice of what to do with >> the money. My daughter wants to buy some pigs and mango trees, and maybe >> a >> simple home for poor people in Africa. If Barack Obama gets elected, I'm >> going to have to tell my daughter that she can't buy those pigs and mango >> trees and that home, because Barack Obama took that money and sent it to >> some slacker kid washing dishes for minimum wage in his college cafeteria >> so >> he could have pocket change for weekend parties. >> >> Again I ask, does that seem fair to you, does that seem just? >> >> >> On Wed, Oct 15, 2008 at 5:09 PM, Dana wrote: >> >>> so again... why does this idea bother you so much. You waste a lot of >>> energy posting about this, you know. >>> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:274743 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
