Posted by Kromey at 3:00pm Nov 13 '11oh, i gotcha. but hey, this is just a message board, not a polling station.
Okay, that's fair.
no offense, but that makes me highly suspect of your positions, then. like the quote in sov's profile: "it is safe to say you have made God in your own image when it turns out He hates the same people you do." i'm sure that some of your stances would be seen as detrimental by someone else in some way, right? if we do slash our over-bloated government, some people are going to have to give up things. whether they deserve them or not is irrelevant - they're gonna have to sacrifice.
and it's always a red flag, at least to me, when none of a person's positions involve any sacrifice on their part. it's always someone else that has to carry the weight in those cases.
Ah, I think I see a fundamental miscommunication here: I don't necessarily see "in one's best interests" as being the same thing as "making no sacrifices".
To take two extremes:
Consider first a farmer, has been working the family farm his whole life. Back-breaking work, working a farm. Long hours, no holidays, hard work nearly every single day. And the pay isn't terribly exciting, either. But he does because it's what he knows, and because it's an honest living, even if he can't afford to buy his family the finer things in life, like cable TV or a shiny new Blu-Ray player.
Now consider the stereotypical "welfare mom", a woman who's never worked an honest job in her life, instead doing what she wants when she wants while pulling down the sweet government check every month (or however often they're handed out). She's thrilled when she gets pregnant again, because another kid means a bigger check.
I think it's obvious that it's the farmer making the most sacrifices, and yet it's also the farmer who's working for his own best interests -- it's the farmer, not the freeloading "welfare mom", who is the stronger person, don't you think?
Returning from hypothetical extremes to the real world, wouldn't you say that paying taxes is itself a sacrifice? I certainly see it that way, at least. And yet, I would strongly disagree with any assertion that not paying any tax would be in my best interests -- sure, I'd have more money in my pocket to spend on trivialities like Skyrim, but who would pay for keeping the roads I drive in repair? Who'd pay the cops? Who'd pay for the ambulances and fire trucks that could very well save my life some day? And what about that army that keeps me safe from invasion by hostile nations?
So it's in my best interests to make that sacrifice and pay taxes.
So it seems that your question was really meant to ask, "What policies would you support even though it meant you would have to make sacrifices, or what policies would you oppose even though supporting it would remove a sacrifice you make?" And there ya go, I just gave an example: Unless there's a rational and reasonable alternative that would replace it, I would oppose abolishing taxation, even though I pay taxes.
Raising taxes? I want to see the over-bloated government slashed back down to reasonable levels first, and then we'll see if we need higher taxes to support it.
Okay, that's fair.
no offense, but that makes me highly suspect of your positions, then. like the quote in sov's profile: "it is safe to say you have made God in your own image when it turns out He hates the same people you do." i'm sure that some of your stances would be seen as detrimental by someone else in some way, right? if we do slash our over-bloated government, some people are going to have to give up things. whether they deserve them or not is irrelevant - they're gonna have to sacrifice.
and it's always a red flag, at least to me, when none of a person's positions involve any sacrifice on their part. it's always someone else that has to carry the weight in those cases.
Ah, I think I see a fundamental miscommunication here: I don't necessarily see "in one's best interests" as being the same thing as "making no sacrifices".
To take two extremes:
Consider first a farmer, has been working the family farm his whole life. Back-breaking work, working a farm. Long hours, no holidays, hard work nearly every single day. And the pay isn't terribly exciting, either. But he does because it's what he knows, and because it's an honest living, even if he can't afford to buy his family the finer things in life, like cable TV or a shiny new Blu-Ray player.
Now consider the stereotypical "welfare mom", a woman who's never worked an honest job in her life, instead doing what she wants when she wants while pulling down the sweet government check every month (or however often they're handed out). She's thrilled when she gets pregnant again, because another kid means a bigger check.
I think it's obvious that it's the farmer making the most sacrifices, and yet it's also the farmer who's working for his own best interests -- it's the farmer, not the freeloading "welfare mom", who is the stronger person, don't you think?
Returning from hypothetical extremes to the real world, wouldn't you say that paying taxes is itself a sacrifice? I certainly see it that way, at least. And yet, I would strongly disagree with any assertion that not paying any tax would be in my best interests -- sure, I'd have more money in my pocket to spend on trivialities like Skyrim, but who would pay for keeping the roads I drive in repair? Who'd pay the cops? Who'd pay for the ambulances and fire trucks that could very well save my life some day? And what about that army that keeps me safe from invasion by hostile nations?
So it's in my best interests to make that sacrifice and pay taxes.
So it seems that your question was really meant to ask, "What policies would you support even though it meant you would have to make sacrifices, or what policies would you oppose even though supporting it would remove a sacrifice you make?" And there ya go, I just gave an example: Unless there's a rational and reasonable alternative that would replace it, I would oppose abolishing taxation, even though I pay taxes.
Raising taxes? I want to see the over-bloated government slashed back down to reasonable levels first, and then we'll see if we need higher taxes to support it.
Re: I don't think I've ever had the opportunity - Kromey