[PLUG-TALK] Re: [PLUG] Sounds good to me ;)

Jeme A Brelin jeme at brelin.net
Tue Jun 18 23:09:25 UTC 2002


On Tue, 18 Jun 2002, Craighead, Scot D wrote:
> Is it the government's place to tell me how to live?  Taxes are
> supposed to be moneys raised to provide the services that the
> government is requried to provide.  Are taxes supposed to be punitive?

You misunderstand.  The tax on tobacco is a tax levied to compensate the
rest of the public for the burden of supporting the minority that choose
to pollute themselves and others.

Our state and municipal governments are required (by laws passed by the
people and the legislature) to provide inexpensive health care insurance,
litter clean-up services, and occupational safety insurance.  Cigarettes
increase the cost of ALL of those services substantially... not to mention
the number of automobile accidents caused by smoking while driving.

I mean, we could take this debate on for AGES, but the simple fact is that
smoking provides a substantial burden to the non-smoking public as well as
to the services provided to smokers and non-smokers alike by our state and
municipalities.

> You are twisting my words into what you want to respond to.  I did not
> say I wanted to do anything to redheads.  You did.

I got the impression that you were saying laws discriminating against
redheads are as justifiable as any other law that impacts a minority more
than the majority, regardless of rationale.

If not that, then what WAS the point of bringing up cigarettes in response
to his statement about redheads?  (This is a serious question.  If you
choose to reply to any of this post, please include a response to this
question.)

> You didn't answer the question, did you?  I understand that true
> democracy is mob rule.  That is why I support a democratic republic
> with certain rights gauranteed to individuals.

Then you misunderstand true democracy.

True democracy is not the rule of the majority, but the rule of all people
equally.  True democracy is consensus and understanding.

For a demonstration, I would point you to some fine pieces of illustrative
fiction like Sydney Lumet's classic film 12 Angry Men or Ursula Le Guin's
brilliant novel The Dispossessed.  I would also refer you to the Paris
Commune, thet Situationalist Rebellion, the Spanish Anarchist revolution,
and recent discussions on the PLUG list striking down representational
hegemony and the consolidation of power in the hands of the few.

I don't see how a republic with majority-elected (supposedly)
representative legislators solves any of the problems of minority
oppression or exploitation or consolidation, abuse, and corruption of
power that comes from any other kind of tyranny.

J.
-- 
   -----------------
     Jeme A Brelin
    jeme at brelin.net
   -----------------
 [cc] counter-copyright
 http://www.openlaw.org





More information about the PLUG-talk mailing list