From: "Alex F. Bokov" <alexboko@umich.edu>
> What if we don't pay politicians anymore AND have no more entangling
> alliances?
"don't pay politicians"? Good idea!! How do you propose to evade paying taxes
(which are used to pay politicians)? As for entangling alliances... I guess
they go with the territory, no matter where the territory is, and no matter
how small the territory. Office politics infect even small businesses.
> Granted, but as a tax payer
There you go... you're paying politicians.
> I'm forced to foot part of this cost
> regardless of how many petroleum products I actually consume.
If you buy petroleum products, you pay the extra excise tax collected at the
pump or point of sale.
> Perhaps
> companies should contract for their own defense (or better,
> arbitration), with the US government if they wish, but why pay tax $$$
> for this?
That's a wonderful idea, and many people have suggested it. The trouble is
that governments would never allow private sector corporate entities to
_openly_ arbitrate for their own defense. Of course, the good 'ol
"military-industrial complex" never let that stop them from getting in cahoots
with government, but then, in the US the government and industry are savvy
enough to know that they are two sides of the same coin, and that coin means
economic stability.
> As a thought experiment, what if we just stopped having a foreign
> policy for a decade or so?
Oh, you mean like re-instate the Clinton administration? ©¿©¬
> No foreign aid, no interventions,
> withdrawing all our military personnel and equipment into the confines
> of our borders?
Well, that sounds good to me, but the US government wouldn't go for it,
because it would mean that a huge part of government would be out of jobs, and
consequently the liberals (aka, socialists) wouldn't go for it because it
would reduce the size of government, which is something they want to avoid.
> * I believe that the majority of the world's Muslims are good, *
> * honorable people. If you are a Muslim and want to reassure me and *
> * others that you are part of this good, honorable majority, all *
> * you need to say are nine simple words: "I OPPOSE the Wahhabi cult *
> * and its Jihad."
Better yet, just say: The only good Wahhabi is a dead Wahhabi.
©¿©¬
--- --- --- --- ---
Useless hypotheses, etc.:
consciousness, phlogiston, philosophy, vitalism, mind, free will, qualia,
analog computing, cultural relativism, GAC, Cyc, Eliza, cryonics, individual
uniqueness, ego, human values, scientific relinquishment
We move into a better future in proportion as science displaces superstition.
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