Quote:
Originally posted by wonderwench
What is bothering you is that we do think. It is not a religion. The problem with expecting the government to run our lives and shield us from the risk of our decisions is that it runs contrary to the way people are naturally wired. Liberty is not a value because it is an abstract. The drive to be an independent individual is inherent in all of us.
|
Who expects the government to run their lives? Why the sudden jump to extremism?
Quote:
This leads me to why we have so much apathy and disassociation in society today. The government expects us to act in a contrary fashion to our natural hierarchy of values. A rational person values first and foremost himself and those he loves - extending outward in concentric circles of friends, acquaintances etc. He would rather use his resources to further the well-being of those closest to him. What does the government do - takes from him first an enormous portion of his income to serve complete strangers, even when doing so harms him and his family. No wonder we have such cognitive dissonance infecting our culture.
|
This is drifting close to American liberatarian rhetoric. Not all societal problems are a direct result of taxation and government spending.
There is also a price to pay for living in a society. Does a man not owe something to the society that he lives in? Don't you use roads or occasionally visit parks?
What do you consider fair? A regressive flat tax? 0%?