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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Edmund Burke Quote # 4

From "Speech Before the House of Commons in Support of Mr. Rose Fuller's Motion that the Commons Move to a Committee of the Whole in Order to Discuss the Threepence Tax on Tea":
Could anything be a subject of more just alarm to America than to see you go out of the plain highroad of finance, and give up your most certain revenues and your clearest interests, merely for the sake of insulting your colonies? No man ever doubted that the commodity of tea could bear an imposition of threepence. But no commodity will bear threepence, or will bear a penny, when the general feelings of men are irritated and two millions of people are resolved not to pay. The feelings of the colonies were formerly the feelings of Great Britain. Theirs were formerly the feelings of Mr. Hampden when called upon for the payment of twenty shillings. Would twenty shillings have ruined Mr. Hampden's fortune? No; but the payment of half twenty shillings, on the principle it was demanded, would have made him a slave. It is the weight of that preamble, of which you are so fond, and not the weight of the duty that the Americans are unable and unwilling to bear.
Some taxes are more than just a means of raising revenue for legitimate governmental tasks. Some taxes are also means of insulting people, or of punishing certain people, or of communicating to them that they have no rights the government is obligated to respect. Eventually, people get tired of being disrespected, insulted, and unjustly punished, and they begin to seek means of avoiding such taxes. The amount of the tax might be almost immaterial. It is the reason why it is demanded that is the primary issue.
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2 comments:

  1. DaveJune 23, 2009 at 5:07 AM

    I still think legalizing pot and taxing the heck out of it would be a great idea. Heck, it would make the price of the herb go down.

    In all seriousness, we are going to reach a breaking point sooner or later with the way the government is handling our money.

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  2. Man of the WestJune 23, 2009 at 6:41 PM

    To my way of thinking, the question of marijuana's legality is the sort of thing that ought to be resolved at the state level. So, if you can succeed in getting the states and the federal government back into their proper relationship, you can always lobby the Oklahoma state legislature about this.

    Shouldn't take more than the rest of your life...

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