Quote Originally Posted by yarri View Post
Reaper, what do you feel is a good thing to spend taxes on?
well, let me start by giving you what i feel is the purpose of law as established by the founding fathers: law exists (or should anyway) for the sole purpose of protecting the liberty of the individual against transgress. here's an example: in the late 20's early 30's, the fed passed a law banning alcohol. for your own good. this resulted in an explosion of gang activities, a sharp and defined increase in the number of fatalities from bath tub hooch, and the eventual repeal of the law. now i ask you, what was the purpose of that law? in order to ban something, it must, by it's very existence, violate the rights of others. the only thing i can think of that's so egregious is a michael moore movie, or anything from al gore. who invented the internet. let's look at a law on the books, the fed currently has legislation on the books that makes a number of drugs illegal, but to what end? when you make something illegal, you instantly make that thing more dangerous by moving transactions of that substance from open air markets, to the black market (not an actual place, i've tried to find it). that's one unintended consequence, but let's move this discussion from the realm of consequence to a more philosophical one, and it's the same question i posed to nick in the gun control thread: what right do you have to tell me what i can put into my body? (ok, so a little different) in order to enforce this violation of liberty, a mammoth organization was created, the DEA, the DEA regularly goes after people with prescriptions from their doctor, their doctor, saying they have to much of a controlled substance, even though the physician who controls it gave it to them. does that make any sense? so rights are being violated in many ways. then, let's look at the health care bill, obamacare. i ask you again, what right do you have to take money from me for something you want? it's theft, it's unconstitutional, and it's unethical. welfare, same thing, i work for a living, but these people don't have to? now before everyone get's bent, i understand a lot of people have been laid off, but that's a result of fucked up regulation anyway, so the fed is fucking us from both ends. but this isn't a discussion on free markets, i'm just trying to make the point, if you pass legislation "for their own good" then anything is on the table. cars are dangerous, let's ban those, and of course people can't manage their own food consumption, just look at them, so all food will be replaced with a nutritionally balanced flavor neutral paste that will be dispensed to you three times a day. people also can't be trusted with their own money, so we'll be taking that too, but it's only because it's for their own good. and of course the internet has to be censored ** ***'* **** ****** ******* ******** ** **** *** *** ** *** ********. well that sucks, maybe we'll hold off on censorship until i'm done posting. but censoring the internet is still a good idea, after all, we can't have people become offended. and no more of this zombie podcast nonsense, there's no way that can be good for you.

the only fair way to establish law is to use liberty as a guide post, making sure that only laws that protect the individual liberty are passed. as you saw above, "the common or public good" could be construed to mean anything you want, and so it could mean anything anyone else wants as well.