Rich in Baton Rouge Seek Secession from Poor

[presence]

The campaigners claim they simply want to improve the quality of local schools and to ensure that taxpayers - who currently contribute roughly two thirds of funds to the parish - have more control over the money they contribute to fund services.


Opponents insist that the proposal is also motivated by race and class. They point out that the new city of St George would be 70% white - and that the mainly poor and black community in the rest of Baton Rouge would face crippling cuts to education if it lost the taxpayers who provide most of its revenue.


The St George campaign says it needs less than 2,000 signatures to hit its goal of 20,000 signatures which would enable it to put the independence vote on the ballot.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29666348

tube at source

[Madison320]

On a slightly different topic, I think if you are a "net receiver" of govt funds you should not have the right to vote. Only net taxpayers should get to vote.

[tod evans]

If ol' Billy Bob is forced to pay taxes then he ought to have a say in how they're spent.....

[oyarde]

I would like to secede from the rich and the poor , and these taxes they are speaking of .

[ILUVRP]

mad320 , i see how this would work , lets see , after 13 yrs military and on ss i pay no federal income tax , i do pay all the school taxes even though i have had anyone in school for 30yrs .

i guess you would not want me to vote , how stupid can you be ?

because of people like me you get to vote .

[presence]

On a slightly different topic, I think if you are a "net receiver" of govt funds you should not have the right to vote. Only net taxpayers should get to vote.

That seems at odds with my end goal that none of us are net tax payers.

[Madison320]

mad320 , i see how this would work , lets see , after 13 yrs military and on ss i pay no federal income tax , i do pay all the school taxes even though i have had anyone in school for 30yrs .

i guess you would not want me to vote , how stupid can you be ?

because of people like me you get to vote .

Give me a break. I work in the defense industry, so I shouldn't be voting either. But I don't mind, at least I know I'll get better government.

Ask yourself, would you rather have the right to vote in a socialist country or not have the right to vote in a capitalist country?

[Madison320]

That seems at odds with my end goal that none of us are net tax payers.

Not really. If only net taxpayers could vote, government would be much smaller.

That being said, I seriously doubt that voting law would ever get passed. I think our best chance at more freedom is an economic meltdown followed by a state(s) seceding.

[ILUVRP]

Give me a break. I work in the defense industry, so I shouldn't be voting either. But I don't mind, at least I know I'll get better government.

Ask yourself, would you rather have the right to vote in a socialist country or not have the right to vote in a capitalist country?

i also worked in the defense industry for 30 yrs , they are the biggest crooks in the world , they love cost plus contracts , make a lot of money by making mistakes .

every american should have the right to vote , otherwise 100's of thousands gi's died for nothing , voting is one of the real rights we have , its very bad so few in america vote .

i would add i would tell the neocon workers at the company that they were on goverment welfare , their pay and health care , they didn't think so, they still hated people on welfare .

i was there for 30 yrs and i knew i was on goverment welfare .

[Madison320]

i also worked in the defense industry for 30 yrs , they are the biggest crooks in the world , they love cost plus contracts , make a lot of money by making mistakes .

Can't argue with you.

every american should have the right to vote , otherwise 100's of thousands gi's died for nothing , voting is one of the real rights we have , its very bad so few in america vote .

Voting is not a "real" right. Real rights are things like property rights. Who cares if you can vote? The important thing is freedom. Voting is not freedom. Voting is merely a means to an end (freedom). You're more likely to achieve that end if you restrict voting to people who are net taxpayers. As was the case in the founding of the US.

[ILUVRP]

our great scotus has said we have no property rights , when our homes can be taken from us and a shopping center put up we have no rights .

[Madison320]

i would add i would tell the neocon workers at the company that they were on goverment welfare , their pay and health care , they didn't think so, they still hated people on welfare .

i was there for 30 yrs and i knew i was on goverment welfare .

Yup. I've had that exact same argument. They argue that they pay taxes and I'll explain that it's still a net cost to the govt. Paying taxes on a government job just means it cost the govt a little less. The govt still has to pay our salaries. It may be a necessary evil but it's not good for the economy.

[Madison320]

our great scotus has said we have no property rights , when our homes can be taken from us and a shopping center put up we have no rights .

Yes, but a big part of that is the fact that everybody can vote. It's called "Tyranny of the Majority".

[ILUVRP]

i think we have seen what happens when the minority rules , examples --japan --italy --germany before ww2 , i could go on with - the gulf of tonkin --wmd's ---etc etc etc .

[Madison320]

i think we have seen what happens when the minority rules , examples --japan --italy --germany before ww2 , i could go on with - the gulf of tonkin --wmd's ---etc etc etc .

I never said I supported dictatorships. I said I was against unlimited democracies. Just like our founding fathers:

"Hence it is that democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general have been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths... A republic, by which I mean a government in which a scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking." James Madison, Federalist Papers No. 10 (1787).

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!" Ben Franklin

“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.” Thomas Jefferson

“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” John Adams

[Acala]

Any community should be able to secede from any other community, state, or nation.

[TheCount]

On a slightly different topic, I think if you are a "net receiver" of govt funds you should not have the right to vote. Only net taxpayers should get to vote.

Does this apply at the state level? IE: If a state is a net receiver, does it lose its seats in congress?