| | Dean,
I'm one of the ones who's worried about you. It would be in your best interest to ratchet it down a few notches.
Let me start with your traffic-law rant. There are two good reasons for traffic laws. (1) It makes the behavior of others more predictable, thereby reducing accidents. (2) If you break a traffic law, it gives the police pretext to pull you over and see if you are wanted for anything else. Believe it or not, this is largely why they pull you over. People who are wanted for other violations, of laws that EVEN YOU would consider valid, tend NOT to lay low and obey the traffic laws so as not to attract attention to themselves. No, they tend to ignore the traffic laws as they ignore other laws.
Let's take this out of a legal context: Can I just ask that you obey the traffic laws out of politeness to other drivers? Most of us are out there driving within the dashed lines, using our turn signals, stopping at red lights, even when we could forego these things to save time. But it's a matter of politeness. And another thing, you are not infallible. From your rant, I infer that you are the type that sees nothing wrong with running a red light if nobody is coming. But it IS wrong; the reason is that you are not infallible: there could be someone coming that you don't see.
Now, on to other things. I think part of your angst could have to do with the time of year. April 15 is closing in, it's the time that many of us get fed up with the intrusiveness of the tax system, as well as with the dollar amount they are taking these days. My husband and I have already had over $37,000 withheld from our paychecks last year, for federal income tax alone, and whoopee, I get to write them a check for another couple thousand on the 15th! Would it be too much to ask that everyone pay an equal amount?? After all, I don't use MORE government services than poor people do, I use LESS! Maybe as a first step, the law could be changed so that there's an "Alternative Maximum Tax" instead of "Alternative Minimum Tax." If you've had, let's say, $20,000 withheld from your salary, they could say you've paid enough already.
So, how much federal tax did they withhold from you this year, Dean? Less than mine? Then quit yer bitching. Yeah, it stinks. If I could keep that money, in a year and a half I could buy myself a shiny new Lexus convertible. Damn, it stinks.
Taxes are the coins we throw into the bin in order to ride the tollway of modern life. It's a lot of coins, too...
That said, would I be better off to shrug? At this stage, I don't think so. I wouldn't be able to make nearly as much money in the "cash-only economy". And there is no way my employer is going to break the law in such an obvious way as to stop withholding income tax from my paychecks. The reason Atlas hasn't shrugged yet is that he is really strong, and the load is really light, compared to the book.
I know you will read this and think of me as an unprincipled pragmatist, what with my little suggestions for incremental changes to the tax laws that would make them a little less unpleasant. I don't see myself that way, though. I understand the principles of a free society, and I understand the proper role of government, and I KNOW that the country we live in bears little resemblance. But I choose to live my life anyway and not let the looters have too much effect on me.
Maybe I should close with some reasons to be optimistic. Well, it seems like more and more people around the globe are starting to realize the danger of religious fundamentalism. We in the United States are starting to understand that Islam is not George Bush's "religion-o-peace" after all.
While we still have Congress scolding businessmen for making a profit, at least the concept of universal government wage and price controls is now seen as ludicrous. I am old enough to remember Nixon's little experiment in that regard. I don't think that would be politically feasible anymore; people have learned a LITTLE bit of economics since then.
And as for the strength of Atlas, just look at the technological progress we have made in the past 20 years or so! It is mind-boggling. Unfortunately, all this abundance makes it easier for the looters to take a bigger piece, but we can still bear it.
Anyway, Dean, maybe what you need is a little "news holiday." Just don't read or watch any news for a couple weeks, to give yourself a breather. Go and do what makes you happy. There's a strangely-worded quote from "We the Living" that sticks with me because I think it applies to situations such as yours. It goes something like, "Don't struggle not to be happy; you are."
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