View Poll Results: How Should a Tariff Free Country Be Funded?

Voters
19. You may not vote on this poll
  • Income tax (whether on individuals, corporations, or states)

    2 10.53%
  • Sales Tax (whether on individuals, corporations, or states)

    4 21.05%
  • Donations (whether on individuals, corporations, or states)

    11 57.89%
  • Other

    8 42.11%
Multiple Choice Poll.
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Thread: Question for Anti-Tariffists

  1. #61
    Quote Originally Posted by r3volution 3.0 View Post
    What if you can't live on your income less sales tax?
    The difference is that property taxes can be levied against people with no money; sales tax cannot. If you cannot live on your income less sales tax, then you buy less, and live off the land.
    Amash>Trump

    ΟΥ ΓΑΡ ЄCΤΙΝ ЄξΟΥCΙΑ ЄΙ ΜΗ ΥΠΟ ΘЄΟΥ

    "Patriotism should come from loving thy neighbor, not from worshiping graven images" - Ironman77

    "ideas have the potential of being more powerful than any army....The concept of personal sovereignty was pulled screaming from the ether into this reality by the force of men believing in a self evident truth, that men are meant to be free." - The Northbreather

    "Trump is the security blanket of aggrieved white men aged 18-60." - Pinoy



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  3. #62
    //
    Last edited by The Northbreather; 03-12-2018 at 10:07 PM.

  4. #63
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Property tax is the only tax that will take you backwards without you even moving.
    Yes.

    Now its get tricky, especially when we ask do we own ourselves if the state takes the right to demand taxes from us.

    The way I take it, the property tax is the foundation of the entire immoral tax structure much as property rights are the foundation all the other rights starting with self ownership and the right to life/owning property that can sustain your life.

  5. #64
    Quote Originally Posted by osan View Post
    It would pass anyway. I'm not defending Trump, but I'm not yet condemning him either. We don't know what goes on behind closed doors. We don't know Trump's broader objectives. He may be just about one of Theire stooges. That has yet to be proved. He's done some good things, said some really stupid things. At this point I see no basis for reaching a conclusion. This is a tangled web we traverse; who knows what other factors are at play, what other unintuitive tactics pursuant to a greater strategy. Or he is just another stooge and we are in worse shape than before. At this point another marginal step toward the end of all that is good doesn't really make much difference. The time to $#@! or get off the pot will come sooner or later. Accounts will be settled at that time, either by positive or negative choosing. I'm old-ish. I don't give that much of a $#@! what happens because I intend on escaping this prison sooner than later.
    I was neutral on Trump before he took office but I think he's clearly failed on the big issues. He's in favor of huge spending increases and he nominated a cheap money guy to head the Fed. Plus he openly flip flopped on some important stuff like calling the stock market a "big fat ugly bubble" and the jobs reports "fake" before the election, now he's bragging about the stock market and the jobs reports.



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  7. #65
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Property tax is the only tax that will take you backwards without you even moving.
    Thank you. That's what I was trying to say, only you said it better.

  8. #66
    Quote Originally Posted by Madison320 View Post
    I was neutral on Trump before he took office but I think he's clearly failed on the big issues.
    You have allowed yourself to be fooled by appearances. It is still too soon to know what he is really about. We may know by this afternoon, or may remain unsure in another year.

    We are in a time of broader results. The details cannot be relied upon to tell us anything essentially truthful about the deeper state of things. Unless this is 100% theater, which it may be, there is a very fundamental struggle for the future of American reality. If we assume that this is not all smoke and mirrors, then Trump is a fly in Theire ointment and the battle to which we are witnesses is deep and very broad. Being so, almost anything is possible and one cannot trust much of what he sees.

    Therefore, I maintain my advice to take care and be patient with regard to assessing that which appears to be happening.

    For example, I have heard that Mueller may be a Trump mole. I have no idea whether it is true, and I acknowledge it doesn't seem very likely. But in a game with stakes this large, almost anything is possible.

    He's in favor of huge spending increases and he nominated a cheap money guy to head the Fed.
    He APPEARS to be in favor. Don't be so easily drawn in by appearances.

    Consider this: Trump is treading a knife's edge. IF his primary goal is to "drain the swamp", which I will assume to mean the charging, trying, and imprisoning of what could be hundreds of Democrat "leaders" including Clinton, Obama, Rice, Lynch, Holder, etc., he is pissing in the cornflakes of a vast array of evil and very dangerous people. The risks are huge and he will need all the friends he can get just to keep his head, much less to succeed.

    Given all that, he can by no means afford to piss even more people off, some of those powerful, evil, and dangerous people - some of them in his own party. Therefore, one thing at a time. Prioritize the list of world-bending objectives and do one, survive, regroup, then on to the next. It is impossibly naive to think he could doo this at once. He stands to be assassinated as it is. If he bites off too much, there is no possibility of him prevailing. Trump doesn't play with the objective of losing and I very seriously doubt he is such a fool as to not understand that of which he is up against. His life is literally on the line. His family is on the line. If you think he is not cognizant of this and not being very careful in his choice of actions, you are fooling yourself.

    We are talking about affecting sea changes in the American juggernaut, no mean feat for virtue of size and the sheer risks associated with defying Themme in such brash and direct fashion.

    Plus he openly flip flopped on some important stuff like calling the stock market a "big fat ugly bubble" and the jobs reports "fake" before the election, now he's bragging about the stock market and the jobs reports.
    Poor choices of behavior, I agree, but not necessarily indicative of a relevant truth. Trump clearly has his issues, just as do we all. He could use some tuning for the sake of public relations, but thus far he has proved himself a capable strategist and negotiator. Credit where due.
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.

  9. #67
    Quote Originally Posted by osan View Post

    He APPEARS to be in favor. Don't be so easily drawn in by appearances.
    Well, he APPEARED to sign a huge spending increase bill. So there's that.
    "And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works." - Bastiat

    "It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." - Voltaire

  10. #68
    Quote Originally Posted by CaptUSA View Post
    Well, he APPEARED to sign a huge spending increase bill. So there's that.
    What's your point?
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.

  11. #69
    Quote Originally Posted by osan View Post
    What's your point?
    That appearances seem to be bleeding into reality but somehow people are still giving this guy a pass... Based merely on their own "hopes" of what is really happening. I suppose you could say, "I'm being easily drawn in by this reality"?
    "And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works." - Bastiat

    "It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." - Voltaire

  12. #70
    Quote Originally Posted by CaptUSA View Post
    That appearances seem to be bleeding into reality but somehow people are still giving this guy a pass... Based merely on their own "hopes" of what is really happening. I suppose you could say, "I'm being easily drawn in by this reality"?
    Read what I wrote on that very topic. You cannot do it all at once. You have powerful and numerous enemies. The bill would pass with or without his signature.
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.

  13. #71
    Quote Originally Posted by osan View Post
    Read what I wrote on that very topic. You cannot do it all at once. You have powerful and numerous enemies. The bill would pass with or without his signature.
    Then he should veto the bill and let them try to override it.

    But Trump WANTS more spending. He still wants to build a wall, increase military spending, infrastructure spending.

    You guys are all going to jump off the bandwagon when the SHTF. First you'll blame it on Obama, then you'll jump ship completely and pretend you were never a big fan of Trump.

    For the record the collapse is mostly the fault of previous mistakes, but I'm consistent, I'm not giving credit for the continued stock market bubble to Trump.

  14. #72
    Quote Originally Posted by Madison320 View Post
    Then he should veto the bill and let them try to override it.
    Clearly you failed to read what I wrote. To veto the bill puts the conflict "out there". In the end it is overridden and he has made even more enemies, the very last thing he needs at this time. Vetoing is the feel-good move of a losing strategy. He needs to buy time and that may be exactly what he is doing.

    But Trump WANTS more spending. He still wants to build a wall, increase military spending, infrastructure spending.
    Says you, but do let us know how you are privy to his innermost thoughts. Once again, do not be so easily taken in by appearances. You MIGHT prove correct in the end, but it will be by pure accident rather than because of adept analysis. No intention to insult or demean, but at this juncture you cannot know what Trumps desires are, unless he's pulled you into a private meeting and told you. Even then, you cannot be quite 100% certain.

    You guys are all going to jump off the bandwagon when the SHTF.
    I'm not on anyone's bandwagon and I have made that plain for over a year. Unlike many others, I understand the nature and magnitude of the situation and IF (note the qualifier) Trump is on the level, he can in no way afford to play in linear mode. Obliquity and adept prioritization in this case can readily lead to very subtle moves that appear as something other than what they are. OR, Trump is just another scoundrel playing his supporters like a squeeze box. Too early to tell, which is my message, yet you claim I am on a "bandwagon". So sorry, but that fails in glaring fashion.

    First you'll blame it on Obama, then you'll jump ship completely and pretend you were never a big fan of Trump.
    Now you're just being silly, man. If I am nothing else, I am forthright and I own my errors and admit them freely. If you cared to read what I write, I choose my words with all due care to make clear that I am not a Trump supporter. Neither am I his detractor. Unlike you, I am a skeptic.

    For the record the collapse is mostly the fault of previous mistakes, but I'm consistent, I'm not giving credit for the continued stock market bubble to Trump.
    Consistent, and wrong in any event - at least where this exchange is concerned.
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.



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  16. #73
    @osan Thank you for that trumpsplanation danno.
    Amash>Trump

    ΟΥ ΓΑΡ ЄCΤΙΝ ЄξΟΥCΙΑ ЄΙ ΜΗ ΥΠΟ ΘЄΟΥ

    "Patriotism should come from loving thy neighbor, not from worshiping graven images" - Ironman77

    "ideas have the potential of being more powerful than any army....The concept of personal sovereignty was pulled screaming from the ether into this reality by the force of men believing in a self evident truth, that men are meant to be free." - The Northbreather

    "Trump is the security blanket of aggrieved white men aged 18-60." - Pinoy

  17. #74
    Quote Originally Posted by The Rebel Poet View Post
    @osan Thank you for that trumpsplanation danno.
    I don't know what is going on here lately, but it is as if some here have abandoned all rationality in favor of blind emotionalism. The hatred of Trump is not as yet well justified. I have explained this time and again, yet we still see responses such as this one. "Trumpsplanation". Come now, this is what I would expect from a hard-left progressive who employs these implicitly disparaging terms in the effort to marginalize and discredit, and not even for valid reasons at this stage.

    What is going on here? Have you all lost your sense of strategy and subtlety? How about patience? For Pete's sake, the man fails to pull a miracle out of his boothole within 20 minutes of inauguration and you're already calling for his head on a pig pole. This is not reasonable. You don't have to trust him. I don't. But for heaven's sake, short of assassinating him, he's what we have until 2020. I say give him rope and see what he does with it. The absolute worst that can happen is he turns out to be as bad as Hillary.

    This irrational ire is not befitting of a Freeman. We are supposed to be better than that.

    As usual, do as you wish. It is your right.
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.

  18. #75
    Quote Originally Posted by osan View Post
    I don't know what is going on here lately, but it is as if some here have abandoned all rationality in favor of blind emotionalism. The hatred of Trump is not as yet well justified. I have explained this time and again, yet we still see responses such as this one. "Trumpsplanation". Come now, this is what I would expect from a hard-left progressive who employs these implicitly disparaging terms in the effort to marginalize and discredit, and not even for valid reasons at this stage.

    What is going on here? Have you all lost your sense of strategy and subtlety? How about patience? For Pete's sake, the man fails to pull a miracle out of his boothole within 20 minutes of inauguration and you're already calling for his head on a pig pole. This is not reasonable. You don't have to trust him. I don't. But for heaven's sake, short of assassinating him, he's what we have until 2020. I say give him rope and see what he does with it. The absolute worst that can happen is he turns out to be as bad as Hillary.

    This irrational ire is not befitting of a Freeman. We are supposed to be better than that.

    As usual, do as you wish. It is your right.
    In case you hadn't noticed, he's 25% of the way through his first term. Everything you're saying about Trump could easily have been said about Obama at this time had you the predilection. "Oh, give him a chance." "Yeah, we know he advocates for some extremely anti-liberty positions, but that's just because he's tricking the establishment." "He's a total outsider to the Washington machine - he's gonna drain the swamp! But you can't expect him to do it all at once - they'd catch onto him."

    Sorry, Pal. You've fallen under the spell of your own hope. A tool that Trump has used for years and even wrote about. (he probably saw Obama using his hope game and thought, "hell I can do this better!")

    He bombs the Middle East at an expanded rate - oh, but Hillary would have been worse!
    He signs a HUMONGOUS spending increase - Yeah, but that's because he's gonna cut spending later
    He grows government and the military at an alarming rate - Yeah, but he got a tax cut through..
    He gives cover for control measures - oh, but that's because he's saving us from something worse

    Seriously, the list goes on and on. He's done some decent things, but on the whole, he's been horrible for liberty. Even worse than that, he completely decimated the liberty movement by hypnotizing many of our allies into believing he's actually helping us. And then there's his anti-liberty rhetoric on every subject imaginable - ahy should I not believe his rhetoric when his actions are so closely aligned to them?!
    "And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works." - Bastiat

    "It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." - Voltaire

  19. #76
    Quote Originally Posted by osan View Post
    at this juncture you cannot know what Trumps desires are, unless he's pulled you into a private meeting and told you. Even then, you cannot be quite 100% certain.
    That's an understatement.

  20. #77
    Quote Originally Posted by CaptUSA View Post
    In case you hadn't noticed, he's 25% of the way through his first term.
    What has that to do with anything? IF (<-- QUALIFIER ALERT!!!!!) he is on the level, then he is seeking to undo at least 100 years of progressive erosion of everything for which "America" is supposed stand, and here I am not referring to our anarchoid ideals, but just those of the Constitutionally Limited Republic. That is a lot of damage to correct. It is a lot of embedded, entrenched, powerful, unforgiving, and very dangerous-to-cross interests to which to pose an existential threat. Is it really so difficult to get it through you head that no man, not even Ron Paul, can waltz into the Office and start taking things apart as he sees fit, no matter how adept, how soundly considered, and how lovingly and correctly designed?

    Let us put it to the people of these forums this way: were YOU to step into power as POTUS, what would YOU do? How would YOU proceed in real terms to make better all the booboos that violate everything for which we as free men stand? This is not a rhetorical question. If Trump is so inept, so evil, so bumbling, then please show us the better way forward in terms that cannot be readily destroyed with reminders of the real world limitations placed upon presidents and any other individuals.

    Look at our own esteemed Thomas Massie - bright fellow with all the right views on liberty, rights, etc. How is it that he has not swept Congress off its feet with the glaring light of his own philosophical and moral superiority - and I mean that sincerely and not as sarcasm. Could it be that there are far too many corrupted men in Congress who have no interest in doing the right things, no understanding of what those things are, and are interested solely in enriching themselves at the expense of their fellows and their own grandchildren?

    So please, ye detractors and know-betters, show this lowly cur-dog the shining path forward to the Repiublic we all seem to believe was intended by the Framers. I want to know how I may instruct Trump such that we reach the promised land in the sad remains of my lifetime. Seriously, show me.


    Everything you're saying about Trump could easily have been said about Obama at this time had you the predilection.
    As easily, yes. As credibly, no. If he has nothing else, Trump has a rather long history of successful negotiations and running hundreds of widely differing businesses. Please don't parade his few failings because anyone doing that much will have some of that to his credit, some of it significant. As for complaining about weaseling out of financial responsibility for some of those failures, while I will not defend it morally, it is what people DO generally. Few of us are willing to nobly go down with the ship and we therefore tend to leave others holding the bag when the USS Businessventure springs fatal leaks. Our statutes, rightly or otherwise, even make provisions for this sort of thing. One cannot blame individuals for wanting to preserve themselves under such circumstances, even if we do not agree with such actions. The will to live is strong in us all and I daresay few here, if even any, would stand proudly on the fantail of the Titanic as she slipped beneath the surface. So please, let us spare one another righteous indignation.

    Obama had no experience at anything. He was shown to be a literal punk. I would therefore have to conclude that the comparison you make between the two really doesn't hold water.

    "Oh, give him a chance."
    I actually said that of Obama in the very beginning. By six months in, he'd demonstrated his lack of knowledge of rights, freedom, etc., and his open hatred of America - WHITE America in particular.

    He made patently absurd claims of a timbre very different from those of Trump - "You didn't build that..." "That's not who we are...", and so on down a long litany of statements that could not be rationally associated with an oblique strategy for overcoming a hostile Congress. Quite the contrary, Obama had a Congress - a BIPARTISAN Congress no less - ready and eager to service his little black missile any time and any way he wanted. There was no need for Obama to play oblique strategies and tactics precisely because he had no significant enemies in the other branches. This is obvious fact based on the nearly universal absence of opposition to his idiocies and trespasses upon the American people. Rather, they were met with thunderous applause, to borrow a line.

    So no, there is no valid comparison between the circumstances into which Trump stepped upon taking his oath, and those with which Obama had to contend. We speak here of real, vehement, broad, and at least in terms of sentiment very violent opposition on the one hand, versus token shows by a governing body just sloppily salivating in anticipation of a taste.

    This is not even a remotely valid equation.

    "Yeah, we know he advocates for some extremely anti-liberty positions, but that's just because he's tricking the establishment." "He's a total outsider to the Washington machine - he's gonna drain the swamp! But you can't expect him to do it all at once - they'd catch onto him."
    You have wholly mischaracterized my position. Whether by intent or misunderstanding, or simple carelessness, I cannot say. Firstly, my position has been that I cannot as yet tell whether he is on the level. Mi capisce? Assuming so, IF he seeks to drain said swamp, he must be very careful in how he proceeds, lest his threat spread too widely and deeply, resulting in the spread of his brains on some sidewalk. Do you disagree that this is a very real and present risk?

    Not being able to "do it all at once" applies to anyone, not just Trump. It would have applied to Obama as well, or Bush, or... No inconsistency there and equally correct in terms of the magnitude of the problem... well, almost. After all, it is a larger challenge than it was twenty years ago.

    Sorry, Pal. You've fallen under the spell of your own hope.
    Now THAT made me chuckle. You think that I, of all the people here, have hope? You've not been paying attention. Perhaps more than anyone else here, I am the realist who has expressed his reasons for believing there is next to zero hope for liberty in this world. Perhaps you just wanted to use a quasi-poetic quip that was burning a hole in your pocket and saw opportunity here - I don't know. Regardless, you mismeasured badly. But in case you never saw me write it before, I will do you the courtesy of clarifying: the chances of anything good coming of human relations in our lifetimes is just this side of vanishing. I will further state that in treating the population of America as a statistical object, nothing short of a deeply disruptive event is going to provide impetus for us to change in a better way. That, of course, is my worthless opinion. YMMV.

    He bombs the Middle East at an expanded rate - oh, but Hillary would have been worse!
    He signs a HUMONGOUS spending increase - Yeah, but that's because he's gonna cut spending later
    He grows government and the military at an alarming rate - Yeah, but he got a tax cut through..
    He gives cover for control measures - oh, but that's because he's saving us from something worse
    And I have been clear that this may all be examples of the same old $#@!. But if it is not, it would make sense in the context of a piecemeal strategy to get to the heart of the real problems plaguing this land - problems the address of which carries vast risk for himself and his family. Draining the swamp as an IDEA exposes him to great physical dangers, regardless of whether his intentions are real. If they are not, then I guess this is all smoke and mirrors as per the usual and the good things he has managed to accomplish are mere window dressing designed to fool his supporters and buy time for the deeply eville plan he intends on foisting upon us all. Yeah, I get your point and it is valid as theory. All I am saying is that it is yet to be proven. Good grief, this is strategy and tactics analysis 001.

    Seriously, the list goes on and on. He's done some decent things, but on the whole, he's been horrible for liberty. Even worse than that, he completely decimated the liberty movement by hypnotizing many of our allies into believing he's actually helping us. And then there's his anti-liberty rhetoric on every subject imaginable - ahy should I not believe his rhetoric when his actions are so closely aligned to them?!
    Time will tell whether you are correct. In this I have been the smarter one in that I have neither condemned nor praised him. I don't like a lot of what I see, but bear in mind (difficult as it is at times) that there could be a bigger game afoot, just beneath the surface. Everything I have claimed is valid, unless of course you would challenge it in terms of the dangers, etc., and how it would be played by an adept whose goal it was to actually survive the playing. Please do show my faults that I may see - seriously d00d, show me. I've not asked anyone to support Trump, or denounce him, but rather to remain skeptical a while longer. Give it another year, barring something truly and immediately dangerous, like sending the military door to door to confiscate our weapons, for example. If in a year's time, for example, we are no closer to arrests and charges for the likes of Lynch, Clinton, etc., then I will start to lean. Until then, I will hold my nose with some patience. A lot of patience, actually, because what I see tries mine daily. But I am determined to remain an adult about this and not lapse into a tantrum because what I want has not magically fallen into my lap as a golden turn directly from God's very bootus-hole on demand.

    We're in it deep and it took a long time to get this way. It's not getting better by this afternoon, that much I guaRONtee.

    Do as you please, of course. I choose to fight my own impulses and remain faithful to reason and rational patience, trying as it may be to do so.

    Good luck.
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.

  21. #78
    Quote Originally Posted by osan View Post
    IF (<-- QUALIFIER ALERT!!!!!) he is on the level, then he is seeking to undo at least 100 years of progressive erosion of everything for which "America" is supposed stand
    What kind of nonsense is this? Just a few posts ago (post #72), your defense of him was precisely that he's not on the level, and that's why we need to wait and see if he really follows through on his promises to continue and even deepen the progressive erosion of which you speak.

    He ran for president on a platform of being by far the most unabashed progressive ever to win the Republican nomination. When has he ever talked about any intent to undo progressivism?

  22. #79
    Quote Originally Posted by osan View Post
    Let us put it to the people of these forums this way: were YOU to step into power as POTUS, what would YOU do?
    First, do no more harm. Ok, you want to give him a pass on not fixing things - fine. I get it - it's hard to turn a ship around. But how do you give him a pass on making things worse?! Spending increases, expanded military, violation of civil liberties - no, these things are real.

    And I suppose you like Trump's 'timbre' of "take the guns first; worry about due process later"? What would be you're sentiment if Obama made that statement?! What about if GWB increased military spending on a Trumpian scale?! Come on - you're under the spell. Just like the Obamabots. The only "bigger game afoot" is the game he's playing on you. You would have condemned nearly anyone else in that position, but you're giving this guy a pass, because you really want to believe that he's different than all the rest of him.

    No one is expecting anyone to get us out of the hole right away, but dammit, can't we at least expect them to stop digging?! Back on topic, this tariff talk is emblematic of more digging. Funny how Trump's actions seem to be just as bad as his words.
    "And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works." - Bastiat

    "It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." - Voltaire

  23. #80
    Quote Originally Posted by Superfluous Man View Post
    What kind of nonsense is this? Just a few posts ago (post #72), your defense of him was precisely that he's not on the level, and that's why we need to wait and see if he really follows through on his promises to continue and even deepen the progressive erosion of which you speak.
    I defy you or anyone to point to a single statement from me defending Trump. I'm a skeptic. I have no idea whether he is on the level, though it seems a bit too much for which to hope. I feel I have absolutely nothing to lose by paying out the rope and seeing what he does with it. Nobody else need follow suit.

    Somewhat orthogonally, lest I stand accused of posting a strawman, if Trump is the evil that so many here claim, and he may well be††, and if that is so objectionable, why then has nobody taken a shot at him? I'd say that "put up or shut up" applies to all of us, myself included. Seriously, if Trump and Congress are so evil, so destructive of our inherent rights, why is nobody taking materially meaningful steps at taking care of the problem? We've all complained. Not a one, myself once again included, have done a single significant thing about it. If the destruction of our rights is so important to us, which apparently it is not, why have we not risked our lives, fortunes, and "sacred honor" (<-- sad joke alert) to correct it without equivocation, regret, or apology?

    He ran for president on a platform of being by far the most unabashed progressive ever to win the Republican nomination. When has he ever talked about any intent to undo progressivism?
    I do not know the answer to that. Nor do I know that your assertion of him being a progressive is accurate. Might be, might not. If it is, then we are all being played once again and are really no worse off than we would have otherwise been. Or are you of a mind that Hillary would have produced a lesser evil?

    It must be me, because I'm not grokking all of these assertions that I am pro-Trump when I have explicitly stated that I am not. We can bitch and whine all we like. Have at it as much as you please, but it is not going to improve your circumstance a whit. Perhaps we don't really want improvements, but just to vent. That, too, is OK but should we not at least be honest about it? The reality is this: we claim to want freedom, yet we do nothing materially relevant toward the stated goal. We either are a raft of liars or we are no better than the progressive snowflake antifa über-phagues who whine for this and that, demanding is all be provided to them by someone else.

    So which is it? By all appearances we are not serious about any of this, given that actions speak more truthfully than do words.


    †† Note how I carefully qualify things. Contrary to some suggestions, I do not own a set of Trump kneepads.
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.



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  25. #81
    Quote Originally Posted by CaptUSA View Post
    First, do no more harm.
    In principle, we are on the precise same page. But what if circumstance forces you to choose between two evils? Please do not come back at me with the claim that such doesn't happen or that it is perforce not the case here. It happens all the time, warfare giving us endless examples, rightly or otherwise.



    Ok, you want to give him a pass on not fixing things - fine.
    Once again, you have failed to properly read what I wrote. I'm giving Trump NOTHING, but rope. I have no opinion on his inner motives because I have nothing upon which to judge, save what he has done so far. The situation he faces forces me to accept the POSSIBILITY that he may be playing a long game where he feels he must make certain intermediate moves in order to win the game. This like chess and . If you want to win against an adept player, strategy becomes key. Do you deny this? If not, and if you accept that the current political hand is much like those games in terms of what is required to prevail, then you should also be willing to accept the POSSIBILITY that strategy is at work here. Nowhere have I stated that it is in fact the case, but only that it may be. It fits well with the circumstance.

    I think perhaps we may agree that Clinton would have come out of the gates flailing and hacking. Therefore, she was a guaranteed loser. Trump may also be a loser for us, but is there any harm in giving him rope? What else is there to do? Assassinate him? Nobody is stepping up, and if they do, will we be any better off? Were we as a nation to stand tall and remove the invalid establishments of governance, I'd say great. But picking off one lousy president, only to repair to our caves to hide once again in hope that the Whipmaster will spare us yet another day, is pointless. It buys us nothing, so why bother? Pence takes over from where Trump left off. Go ahead, shoot him too. Then what? We are either serious about this liberty thing, or we are full of $#@!. Thus far, we have demonstrated nothing of serious.

    I get it - it's hard to turn a ship around.
    At this point it is damned nearly impossible, which is a centrally significant point that cannot be glossed over with a mere seven words. It needs to be examined in its depth and breadth and length for the monstrous endeavor it is. The controls are entrenched and hostile to any course corrections. They are hostile enough to kill you stone dead, if Theye feel they must. We live in a world where some would knock you a deep fathom under the earth for the $2 in your wallet. What does anyone thing Theye would do to preserve their positions in the world? Let us be circumspect about this.

    But how do you give him a pass on making things worse?!
    I haven't. All I have done is put off my harsher judgments until such time as I feel I have enough basis for coming to such conclusions about the man. I will probably come to your conclusion - that he is just another high-level political stooge. The odds favor it, but I am not quite willing to jump to that conclusion just yet, which would be the easiest thing to do, the temptation to which I find myself daily at war with myownself. Others may feel they have sufficient basis for complaint. I do not. I am not fast on my feet. I never really have been. I take things in and I let them digest over long periods because I take seriously the judging of others. Probably I am a stooge and fool, as well as not very capable, but I have to be true to myself no matter how limited I am. I wait and observe. When I am satisfied that Trump is just another douche, I will proclaim it without equivocation or soft voice. But if he turns out OK, I will as loudly and certainly give credit where due. I did it with Obama. I gave him his due for brass and his ability to read well a teleprompter. I cannot readily recall anything else for which he deserved recognition... well, OK, there's treachery too. Not much else.

    Spending increases, expanded military, violation of civil liberties - no, these things are real.
    Yes, they are - and they would have come no matter what Trump did to oppose them. So why fight if there is no chance of winning, again if we assume he is on the level? Rather, give the short-sighted filth what they want and what they would get regardless of whether you fight them, but attach to it a price to be exacted at a time of your choosing? Strategy. Playing the game to win and not to make oneself feel good now.

    And I suppose you like Trump's 'timbre' of "take the guns first; worry about due process later"?
    Don't be disingenuous and silly. We've both been here long enough a year to know very well that I do not support such positions in any way. But IF (there's that qualifier again) he's playing the long game and making these statements to buy time and some leverage, I can live with it so long as he makes good in the end. If he doesn't, I don't see that I am any worse off.

    Let me ask you this: if Trump (or alternately Clinton) were to go whole hog on gun confiscation - I mean an all-out ban replete with door to door searches and breaches for those refusing to open up, do you think Americans would do anything effective to stop it? Be serious now - would we stand up and start shooting? I don't think we would. I think most of American - ENOUGH of America - would lay flat down on the ground and take it any way it was given. I may be mistaken and hope I am, but I do not see there being enough to stand tall before the Man and take him to task.

    So what, then, are we really talking about here? Unless at least 10 millions of us are ready to stand, fight, and die if necessary for the good of our posterity, all we are doing here is blowing steam from our bootholes.

    What would be you're sentiment if Obama made that statement?!
    Apples and oranges for reasons given in another post.

    What about if GWB increased military spending on a Trumpian scale?! Come on - you're under the spell.
    I am under no such thing. In case I have STILL not managed to make myself clear, I fully expect to be disappointed in the end, probably bitterly so. What I am doing that you are not, is holding control over myself with the knowledge that waiting to see what ultimately transpires brings me no harm, save in the case where I would otherwise be fixing to go warring, which I am not. Therefore, being a very small creature, I stand to lose nothing by sitting back and waiting until I feel I have a basis for either condemning or praising Trump. I dare not hope for the latter, but will not indulge my impatience with the former at this time. Time enough for all those things to come.

    Just like the Obamabots.
    Nothing like them. Not in my case, anyhow.

    The only "bigger game afoot" is the game he's playing on you.
    No sir. You err deeply with this assertion.

    You would have condemned nearly anyone else in that position, but you're giving this guy a pass, because you really want to believe that he's different than all the rest of him.
    Oy...

    No one is expecting anyone to get us out of the hole right away,
    Are you even serious? His supporters are largely doing just that. A small ton of people here expect it to happen and when it doesn't they lose their sense. Let us be fank on this point - very few Americans have the patience to endure what is necessary to claw our way back to something even vaguely resembling liberty. When Ron Paul was running, you'd think Jesus had touched down on the waters of lake Okeechobee or something.... that he was going to set it all straight. No, he wasn't. The real likelihood is that nobody is going to do $#@! to fix this in a systemically deep way. Window dressing means nothing. It's the deeper issues that are important and those don't remedy without lots of time and a very carefully crafted strategy.

    Trump (or anyone else including Ron Paul) fixing the problems of this nation is like a single man standing before an entire Roman Legion. The odds are about that good, IMO.

    but dammit, can't we at least expect them to stop digging?!
    Yes, we can. But you at least have to acknowledge the possibility that a deeper strategy, which is by all means the requirement under the assumed circumstance of draining the old swamp, does not always entail immediate gratification. I don't know how many ways to try to make clear that it is POSSIBLE he is being very clever in hiding his truer intentions with a show that places his enemies at some ease. POSSIBLE - not PROBABLE. Need I repeat myself yet again to make it sink in? The likelihood, given our history and the statistical reality to which it gives rise, is that Trump will prove just another stooge in a costly suit. That is the likely result, but the conclusion is not as yet foregone.

    I think I've explained this as clearly as I am able. If anyone walks away from this one still saying I'm a Trump fan, I can only conclude they are absent to mental capacity to understand plainly structured English or are peddling.

    Best wishes to one and all.
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.

  26. #82
    Quote Originally Posted by osan View Post
    In principle, we are on the precise same page. But what if circumstance forces you to choose between two evils? Please do not come back at me with the claim that such doesn't happen or that it is perforce not the case here. It happens all the time, warfare giving us endless examples, rightly or otherwise.





    Once again, you have failed to properly read what I wrote. I'm giving Trump NOTHING, but rope. I have no opinion on his inner motives because I have nothing upon which to judge, save what he has done so far. The situation he faces forces me to accept the POSSIBILITY that he may be playing a long game where he feels he must make certain intermediate moves in order to win the game. This like chess and . If you want to win against an adept player, strategy becomes key. Do you deny this? If not, and if you accept that the current political hand is much like those games in terms of what is required to prevail, then you should also be willing to accept the POSSIBILITY that strategy is at work here. Nowhere have I stated that it is in fact the case, but only that it may be. It fits well with the circumstance.

    I think perhaps we may agree that Clinton would have come out of the gates flailing and hacking. Therefore, she was a guaranteed loser. Trump may also be a loser for us, but is there any harm in giving him rope? What else is there to do? Assassinate him? Nobody is stepping up, and if they do, will we be any better off? Were we as a nation to stand tall and remove the invalid establishments of governance, I'd say great. But picking off one lousy president, only to repair to our caves to hide once again in hope that the Whipmaster will spare us yet another day, is pointless. It buys us nothing, so why bother? Pence takes over from where Trump left off. Go ahead, shoot him too. Then what? We are either serious about this liberty thing, or we are full of $#@!. Thus far, we have demonstrated nothing of serious.



    At this point it is damned nearly impossible, which is a centrally significant point that cannot be glossed over with a mere seven words. It needs to be examined in its depth and breadth and length for the monstrous endeavor it is. The controls are entrenched and hostile to any course corrections. They are hostile enough to kill you stone dead, if Theye feel they must. We live in a world where some would knock you a deep fathom under the earth for the $2 in your wallet. What does anyone thing Theye would do to preserve their positions in the world? Let us be circumspect about this.



    I haven't. All I have done is put off my harsher judgments until such time as I feel I have enough basis for coming to such conclusions about the man. I will probably come to your conclusion - that he is just another high-level political stooge. The odds favor it, but I am not quite willing to jump to that conclusion just yet, which would be the easiest thing to do, the temptation to which I find myself daily at war with myownself. Others may feel they have sufficient basis for complaint. I do not. I am not fast on my feet. I never really have been. I take things in and I let them digest over long periods because I take seriously the judging of others. Probably I am a stooge and fool, as well as not very capable, but I have to be true to myself no matter how limited I am. I wait and observe. When I am satisfied that Trump is just another douche, I will proclaim it without equivocation or soft voice. But if he turns out OK, I will as loudly and certainly give credit where due. I did it with Obama. I gave him his due for brass and his ability to read well a teleprompter. I cannot readily recall anything else for which he deserved recognition... well, OK, there's treachery too. Not much else.



    Yes, they are - and they would have come no matter what Trump did to oppose them. So why fight if there is no chance of winning, again if we assume he is on the level? Rather, give the short-sighted filth what they want and what they would get regardless of whether you fight them, but attach to it a price to be exacted at a time of your choosing? Strategy. Playing the game to win and not to make oneself feel good now.



    Don't be disingenuous and silly. We've both been here long enough a year to know very well that I do not support such positions in any way. But IF (there's that qualifier again) he's playing the long game and making these statements to buy time and some leverage, I can live with it so long as he makes good in the end. If he doesn't, I don't see that I am any worse off.

    Let me ask you this: if Trump (or alternately Clinton) were to go whole hog on gun confiscation - I mean an all-out ban replete with door to door searches and breaches for those refusing to open up, do you think Americans would do anything effective to stop it? Be serious now - would we stand up and start shooting? I don't think we would. I think most of American - ENOUGH of America - would lay flat down on the ground and take it any way it was given. I may be mistaken and hope I am, but I do not see there being enough to stand tall before the Man and take him to task.

    So what, then, are we really talking about here? Unless at least 10 millions of us are ready to stand, fight, and die if necessary for the good of our posterity, all we are doing here is blowing steam from our bootholes.



    Apples and oranges for reasons given in another post.



    I am under no such thing. In case I have STILL not managed to make myself clear, I fully expect to be disappointed in the end, probably bitterly so. What I am doing that you are not, is holding control over myself with the knowledge that waiting to see what ultimately transpires brings me no harm, save in the case where I would otherwise be fixing to go warring, which I am not. Therefore, being a very small creature, I stand to lose nothing by sitting back and waiting until I feel I have a basis for either condemning or praising Trump. I dare not hope for the latter, but will not indulge my impatience with the former at this time. Time enough for all those things to come.



    Nothing like them. Not in my case, anyhow.



    No sir. You err deeply with this assertion.



    Oy...



    Are you even serious? His supporters are largely doing just that. A small ton of people here expect it to happen and when it doesn't they lose their sense. Let us be fank on this point - very few Americans have the patience to endure what is necessary to claw our way back to something even vaguely resembling liberty. When Ron Paul was running, you'd think Jesus had touched down on the waters of lake Okeechobee or something.... that he was going to set it all straight. No, he wasn't. The real likelihood is that nobody is going to do $#@! to fix this in a systemically deep way. Window dressing means nothing. It's the deeper issues that are important and those don't remedy without lots of time and a very carefully crafted strategy.

    Trump (or anyone else including Ron Paul) fixing the problems of this nation is like a single man standing before an entire Roman Legion. The odds are about that good, IMO.



    Yes, we can. But you at least have to acknowledge the possibility that a deeper strategy, which is by all means the requirement under the assumed circumstance of draining the old swamp, does not always entail immediate gratification. I don't know how many ways to try to make clear that it is POSSIBLE he is being very clever in hiding his truer intentions with a show that places his enemies at some ease. POSSIBLE - not PROBABLE. Need I repeat myself yet again to make it sink in? The likelihood, given our history and the statistical reality to which it gives rise, is that Trump will prove just another stooge in a costly suit. That is the likely result, but the conclusion is not as yet foregone.

    I think I've explained this as clearly as I am able. If anyone walks away from this one still saying I'm a Trump fan, I can only conclude they are absent to mental capacity to understand plainly structured English or are peddling.

    Best wishes to one and all.

    You must spread some reputation around...
    Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

    Robert Heinlein

    Give a man an inch and right away he thinks he's a ruler

    Groucho Marx

    I love mankind…it’s people I can’t stand.

    Linus, from the Peanuts comic

    You cannot have liberty without morality and morality without faith

    Alexis de Torqueville

    Those who fail to learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.
    Those who learn from the past are condemned to watch everybody else repeat it

    A Zero Hedge comment

  27. #83
    @osan I appreciate your being precise with your words. I would like to clarify two things that I think a lot of us think, and have not been clear enough about. The two main points of contention we have with your assessment are:

    1) A lot of us don't think the actions Trump has taken are good even as a strategy. Speaking for myself: I can accept that I don't know Trump's innermost thoughts, so I must accept that he could be doing things for the sake of strategy, but a lot of us not only feel that his actions are immoral even as strategy, but also that his actions cannot work properly even as strategy.
    2) A lot of us think, not that your positive belief that Trump is good is ridiculous (since you have made clear that you don't positively believe Trump is good in your long post history), but that even your belief that Trump might be good is ridiculous. This is precisely because we believe his (possibly strategic) actions are both immoral and essentially guaranteed to make things worse.
    Amash>Trump

    ΟΥ ΓΑΡ ЄCΤΙΝ ЄξΟΥCΙΑ ЄΙ ΜΗ ΥΠΟ ΘЄΟΥ

    "Patriotism should come from loving thy neighbor, not from worshiping graven images" - Ironman77

    "ideas have the potential of being more powerful than any army....The concept of personal sovereignty was pulled screaming from the ether into this reality by the force of men believing in a self evident truth, that men are meant to be free." - The Northbreather

    "Trump is the security blanket of aggrieved white men aged 18-60." - Pinoy

  28. #84
    Quote Originally Posted by The Rebel Poet View Post
    The two main points of contention we have with your assessment are:

    1) A lot of us don't think the actions Trump has taken are good even as a strategy.
    Nowhere did I say it was good, but only that it MIGHT be a strategic move. I've made absolutely no value judgments there.

    Speaking for myself: I can accept that I don't know Trump's innermost thoughts, so I must accept that he could be doing things for the sake of strategy, but a lot of us not only feel that his actions are immoral even as strategy,
    Fair enough. I've not suggested to anyone they accept his moves as moral.

    but also that his actions cannot work properly even as strategy.
    Here you are mistaken. There is a wide variety of ways in which his actions might prove effective, particularly as diversions. Note the absence of value judgment.

    2) A lot of us think, not that your positive belief that Trump is good is ridiculous (since you have made clear that you don't positively believe Trump is good in your long post history), but that even your belief that Trump might be good is ridiculous. This is precisely because we believe his (possibly strategic) actions are both immoral and essentially guaranteed to make things worse.
    You are free to believe as you wish, of course. But ask yourself this: what do you think is required to affect the sorts of changes we may conversationally say we agree upon in order to nudge America in a better direction? Think "hostile, endlessly corrupt Congress and courts, aided and abetted by MSM and large and heavily invested money interests." Would Ron Paul, with his principles, have accomplished what we want? No. He's a boyscout. I respect that, but I also recognize and acknowledge that boyscouts are too rare to have great and positive effect in a world of corrupt individuals who want their politicians to be corrupt, steal from the "rich" (or whomever) and give to THEM.

    I really cannot tell anymore what most people think is going to work in a land as rotten with corruption as this one is. I prefer principle, but when it becomes clear that that holds next to zero chance of producing a positive result, the choice then comes down to stick with principle as the ship sinks, or get one's lillywhite hands dirty and start patching the holes.

    But as I wrote previously, I'm getting old and don't give a damn what happens. People want to live under tyranny. I say let them.
    Last edited by osan; 03-14-2018 at 09:29 PM.
    freedomisobvious.blogspot.com

    There is only one correct way: freedom. All other solutions are non-solutions.

    It appears that artificial intelligence is at least slightly superior to natural stupidity.

    Our words make us the ghosts that we are.

    Convincing the world he didn't exist was the Devil's second greatest trick; the first was convincing us that God didn't exist.

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