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I feel like I'm in crazytown when I express distress about taxation - literally people forcibly taking away your property - and ppl act like I'm the crazy one. Sure, you could argue that this forcible theft is worth it, and I'll respect that, but it's still not crazy to be upset.

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Sebastian Sylvan

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Think of it as paying for the infrastructure and society that allowed you to make that money. It may hurt, but it's a fair trade IMO.

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I'm okay with fair trades, I'm not okay with nonconsensual trades. My issue here is that it is *my* property taken *by force*, and people are trying to tell me "cheer up, it's a fair trade." I don't care if it's fair, it's still a violation.

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Sebastian Sylvan

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It is consensual. You could leave the US if you don't like it. The deal in the US is that you get to make an extraordinary comfortable living benefiting from the society that your taxes pay for.

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I view this as I am making a comfortable living *in spite of* taxes. Society has managed to grow *in spite of* taxes. Imagine where we would be if we didn't have that burden!

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Sebastian Sylvan

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Well a country without freeways, the internet, electrical grids etc. probably wouldn't have lead to the extraordinary national wealth that lead to thinks like twitter.com.

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I think it's very possible that a better version of most of these would currently exist without the government.

6:40 PM · Apr 24, 2021

Sebastian Sylvan

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How exactly would that even happen? It's very expensive, and the benefit to any one entity doesn't begin to cover the cost. It's only worth it in the 50+ year perspective when looking at the entire country. Is there any example of something like that w/o government anywhere ever?

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That's an insanely naive position. So many things only exist at all because of a state, even if they didn't the state protects those assets too.

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ῳıƖɖɛᏒŋɛʂʂ 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐭

@wildernessExpat

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Sectors where infrastructure is still semi-private, like telecom, have not generally built out better versions. Last mile customers (or basically anyone not in major population center) suffers because it's not economically pheasable to give them good service

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There may be a theory in which it's very possible, but it's never been done. I'm not saying it's impossible yet it seems highly improbable.

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@caballeromarco

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I think this is where your disconnect with the concept of taxes is shown. You believe all that you see built around you would still exist or would even be better without taxes. A lot of us disagree.

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Umami Bin Laden

@RealOnlineHours

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extremely unlikely.

Jonathan Mannhart

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Have you read this?

slatestarcodex.com

Meditations On Moloch

I. Allen Ginsberg’s famous poem on Moloch:What sphinx of cement and aluminum bashed open their skulls and ate up their brains and imagination? Moloch! Solitude! Filth! Ugliness! Ashcans and u…

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This is a key delusion that you use to whitewash your own greed to yourself as enlightenment.

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love to drive Microsoft roads and hire Tesla judges

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And yet this has never happened. Odd.

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