[Funny]

Originally Posted by order99

I oppose raising Taxes. ANY taxes. It just encourages the idiots to waste more of our money!

This statement we agree upon, it stands to reason that if given the opportunity to spend ones own money on something, you will find the best deal or at least get what you want. When someone else spends your money for you, there isn't that worry or sensitivity. They spend it so easily because "well, it's not my money..."

Originally Posted by order99

Gas will get pricey again without higher taxes, it always has before. I am for higher gas prices-it makes people consider things a bit-but i'm not for giving more of it to a wasteful, inefficient and corrupt government which then spends its time on figuring out better ways of abolishing our rights and finishing our transition from fully-realized human beings into mindless consumer units that shamble cradle-to-grave in Serf's manacles...

First, losing your temper is not going to solve the problems. Second, again I agree with most of this, however to say that you are for higher gas prices means you are not for a free and open market, which requires the gasoline and other products to set their own prices, via supply and demand. If the gas prices are low today and high tomorrow, so be it. Do not artificially inflate something to screw up supply and demand.

Originally Posted by order99

Abolish Income Tax, and abolish the IRS. A man who does not own his labor is not free.
Abolish Land Tax. When land is bought, it is paid for ONCE.
Restore Tariffs-the US is just about the only country that has largely discontinued them.
Cut Federal Government to the bone. Eliminate unnecessary spending and Pork Barrel. The ATF was created solely to employ all those poor, unemployed Prohibition agents-the agency is obsolete. The CIA breaks its own mandates daily(operating inside the US itself is a no-no)-fire the lot of them, change the NSA's mandate from Domestic to Foreign Ops and watch them like hawks to prevent them from turning into another CIA! Homeland Security becomes a co-ordinating agency with no enforcement powers-their job will be strictly liason between Law Enforcement and Intelligence agencies...this leaves the Secret Service to protect the President, Law Enforcement from Local to Federal levels intact and gets rid of 'domestic Security' Brownshirts.

Here is where we begin to disagree. Unfortunately, there are two things in life that are definite, death and taxes. I agree that a tremendous amount of wasteful spending must be cut, and the majority of government (federal) can be let go and most of us would never miss them, nor know that they were even gone. But when you begin to believe in conspiracy theories, people are going to question your sanity. I won't, I am one of the many people that believe that we still are sitting on technology like the Pogue carburetor and doinging nothing with it because "It would disrupt the system."
At least tone down the government conspiracy a little, just as a precaution .

Originally Posted by order99

Cut Military spending by 65%. We don't need military bases in every foreign nation unless we're an Empire, so let's get rid of the expense. We have Nukes, nobody's going to invade in force. Terrorism will be dealt with by Law Enforcement from within , NSA/MI in open waters and by other Governments on their own soil, with UN help if needed.

Again, I must rein you in here, military is what keeps the enemies that want what we have away. You cut the spending, I say make better use of that spending. If there were a flat tax in place, about 3% of income (yes I did say 3%) on everyone, including the poor and impoverished, as well as the super wealthy and super rich (there is a difference between wealthy and rich) with NO DEDUCTIONS ALLOWED (and no capital gains taxes to boot) the government would have more than enough capital to fund a Very strong military. This would deter terrorists and other enemies of the US more so than nuclear weapons. You can't fight guerrilla tactics with nuclear arms, it doesn't work.

Originally Posted by order99

Cut Foreign Aid. Stop giving money to countries who don't need it or are more successful than we are(Israel, France, Germany etc). Save it for the Third world as it was intended and for Disaster Relief efforts.

You mean stop babysitting? Sure I'm for that. But to assist our allies, I want to do that too "oh Britain, you need to borrow lunch money? sure, just catch me on payday and get it back to me." You can't just turn away friends, but they cannot become leaches either.

Originally Posted by order99

Now that we've leaned out the Federal FE, raise Sales Tax just a bit (no more than 10% total) raise Luxury Tax a LOT (the Wealthy no longer pay Income Tax so they still come out way, way ahead) increase Fees across the board ( Registration, Surveying, Inspections of cars/buildings, permits) another 10-12% . Now the States have plenty of operating capital (pre-collected so no Tax Season or forms). Have at least half of these operations work at the County level, with the resulting moneys distributed to the States on a fixed ratio. The less centralized we can keep our Governments, the less likely we are to have the corruption and scandals that have plagued our Nation for the past centur-

Alright pal, why attack the wealthy? They are those that create wealth. Without wealthy people (not rich), there is no capital to create jobs and continue functioning as an effective entity on this planet. Rich people (here's the difference) inherited or won their money, they never earned it.
Those that earned the money and gave it to an heir, and the heir doesn't use that money to make more money? That is a rich person.
Those that earned the money and gave it to an heir, and the heir uses that money to make huge piles of cash and employs a ton of people? That is a wealthy person.
I agree that there are a lot of reforms and changes that must be made, but you think that wealthy and rich people are the problem? How about the 50% of Americans that don't pay a cent of income tax? Those people that make up the bottom 50% of our totem pole. When you have a system that rewards the lazy and punishes the productive, that system is broken.

Originally Posted by order99

Oh.
Um.
These Soapboxes just spring up under my feet when i'm standing still don't they? Sorry, back to Gas Tax, i'll just carry these home for firewood....

Likewise, I must relinquish my soapbox to the next person. Next?