[Riot]

Originally Posted by joeydb

Taxation is a legitimate mechanism for getting funds for essential service that are an expense for everyone. Not just an expense for some of the people - the ones who don't get the money.

What use, specifically, are you referencing?

Petitioning your government when 49.5% of the people don't pay any income tax is pointless.

Most of the people that don't pay any income tax are deemed way too poor by our society to have to pay federal income tax (although they all pay state and local taxes).

Many others who pay no tax are rich corporations and individuals that use current legal exemptions.

Yes, the tax code could be redone to eliminate exemptions.

Why should the recipient have as much say as the provider in an election? Of course he or she will vote to keep the checks coming, the math, budget, and impending implosion of the dollar be damned. So votes by the soon to be minority of income earners are meaningless.

Ah - you don't believe that all Americans are created equal. You are clearly in favor of, and defining, a plutocracy.

It is socialism - clearly.

No. We do not have "socialism". That's absurd. The government doesn't own your means of production, nor does it take your production. That's simply false. It's a dog whistle.

We also are fighting the private corporate ownership of government, the plutocracy of the "haves" over the "have nots", that you clearly desire.

You are doing exactly what the wealthy desire: you are complaining that "the poor", or "welfare queens" (note to jms, that is not a direct quote) have ruined this country. Wrong. Our country is owned by the wealthy, and we are barely hanging on to any semblance of "representative democracy" left in the face of massive attempts to profitize and privatize what's left of our earned benefits programs by the Republican Party (the Ryan budget, which throws this country into massive new trillions of deficit while removing all social safety nets and privatizing for profit all our earned benefits programs)