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> And I don't want that to happen. Is that too much to ask for? civilization and government are way more nuanced than this. the answer to your question is yes,
by munin 13y ago
> And I don't want that to happen. Is that too much to ask for?
civilization and government are way more nuanced than this. the answer to your question is yes, yes it is too much to ask for. you probably don't want to pay taxes, receive speeding tickets, or be subject to laws but you are...
- andy_ppp 13y agoI always find it funny that taxes are only for the poor as far as I'm aware. In reality speeding tickets aren't for reckless driving they are for funding police departments. The laws we have are and have always been designed to require whole teams of specialised people at great expense to debate whether, in fact you are or aren't in contradiction of them (insert campaign for plain terms legal messaging that is binding). In fact the law is so complex now that if you can pay for the smartest people to get you off the hook on technicalities. We didn't get onto corporate power and influence in this thread (yet) but you get the idea. Is shut up and take it an option anymore when it's looking increasingly likely that governments corrupt and subvert real public debate (infiltrating organisations like Greenpeace with trouble makers), monitor everything you do on the internet and can trace it all back to you, and should the policies change under, say a Nixon, McCarthy or worse you could find the apparatus on your doorstep for a making everyone a suspected terrorist fairly soon. Turnkey Tyranny is exactly the correct terminology. The truth is you can't trust the NSA to do the right thing and anyone with any common sense can see even in very very recent American history the powers of the state were massively abused. Freedom, democracy, these always have just been words to sugar coats a system by the rich for the rich. I the more you look at the system the more you realise that Chomsky is right about power and that you and me all need a fairer slice of the cake (both monetarily and in terms of our say in how government happens). What is good is that the means of production is coming back to the people; I can see the rich and powerful being very scared indeed by this.
- jaekwon 13y agoHow are the means of production coming back to the people? I'd like to know, because that's where the hope is.
- andy_ppp 13y agoWithin 20 years 3d printing and Open Ecology will have given _you_ the means to pretty much never need to buy anything from the man again. Real communities that live off the grid can happen within our life times (and it not be the most tiresome back breaking work in the world) and maybe we can find a bit of happiness in the joy of being human rather than the endless procession of churning out ever more so that the rich above us can steal it from us.
- embolism 13y agoHow will people in those communities pay their taxes?
- jaekwon 13y agoPresumably through voluntary subscription to private services, or flat taxation of alternative currencies controlled by and tied to local communities where usage of the currency is voluntary. The way we're taxed federally right now with corporate loopholes and crazy income tax laws is bad.
- embolism 13y agoThe people who operate the current tax system probably won't take kindly to an alternative system just being 'declared'. And they have lots of guns.