"I pay taxes as a form of charity. I probably could have figured some way around that. I doubt I'll ever die, ether."
Well, if it makes you feel better, that's a good way to look at it. "With the government-- it tries so hard to be fair, it's unfair." Amen. "Charity" ain't like that. You can't sue a church for not giving you soup-- there's no accountability. =)" Yes, there is. You hold the charity accountable. Don't give if they don't live up to your standards. Think of the United Way. Years ago, the director got busted for taking first class flights and such. Donations went down dramatically. "And aren't we like, paying less taxes than ever before, or something like that? Where's that damn graph..." No. Remember, the temporary income tax is less than 100 years old. "*sob*! I'm crying with laughter. The country was *sooooo* fiscally responsible before The One." Wrong. Not even close. Our country has been fiscally irresponsible for decades. And like I said, I don't blame the One for my losses. It was 100% my fault. "We had a surplus, right? That was thanks to "conservative" ideals, neh?" No. There haven't been conservative ideals in office for decades. "I don't want or expect the government to help me one bit either, ... " Kudos "...tho I suspect the difference between you and I, is that I don't mind if the government helps other folk. Even if, *gasp* it spends my hard-earned money to do so." Exactly. I want to help people with my hard earned money directly. Take out the proxy altogether, especially considering the waste and bureaucracy my money would have to go through if it went through the government. "Heh. Churches had to reform their welfare too. Now they ask for IDs and whatnot more often than not. So they know you ain't just some local bum, abusing The System." It's a sign of the times. On a tangent involving churches and private charities versus government charity: Government charity removes all moral components from receiving charity. There is no moral code of conduct that is expected. Also, charity is soon viewed as an entitlement, so gratitude is removed. If the charity is removed, resentment sets in. "Although, hell, maybe you ain't arguing that folk are generally leeches?" Nope. I honestly believe most people want to be left alone. Sometimes they need a hand. It should be up to you and me as individuals to help out. "Maybe you believe that people are generally decent, and just have this odd idea that it's fine to spend money on stuff like bullets & bombs, but spending it on bread & medicine is crazy talk? Because /that/ will be abused. Unlike, say, deals for making assault rifles, boots, and bullet proof vests." I never said anything about bullets and bombs. Of course, the way things are running in metropolitan area projects, it might be a good idea to hand out bullet proof vests, rifles, and boots. And, if you want to way in on military expenditures, I don't have problem with that. But don't single out just military. Look at all of the other areas where the government spends. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:323909 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
