Hello Big D

This article has 9 comments so far!

1. David says —
   (On May 22nd, 2007 at 7:02 pm)

   What do you expect from the government? They steal from you (through the threat of violence or incarceration if you don’t pay taxes) and then they have no competition so there is no incentive for honest, timely, and quality work. Democracy in action: what a racket!

2. Lysander Spooner says —
   (On May 24th, 2007 at 2:40 am)

   Junior, your complaint is that the city isn’t spending stolen money the way you voted them to. It’s a good thing you made available various voter registration links. Maybe next time, if you vote hard enough, you’ll get what you want.

   Democracy ‘07: keep hope alive.

3. junior says —
   (On May 24th, 2007 at 11:54 am)

   I understand your point Mr. Spooner, but in this situation I’m not sure you could call it stolen money, considering the public voted for the project and could have just as easily voted it down. The public wanted the parks, but several more powerful people want a road.

   How are problems like this solved by the free-market when that market still encourages large slabs of concrete to be built rather that “unused” expanses of green?

4. The Conspiracy Theorist says —
   (On May 24th, 2007 at 1:57 pm)

   Two words. Foil Hats.

5. David says —
   (On May 24th, 2007 at 3:59 pm)

   I’ll answer your questions on how the free-market solves the problems if Lysander doesn’t get around to it.

   But, in regards to the stolen money debate, even if the money went exactly to where the majority of the population voted it to go (which is never the case), there is still a huge minority that voted against the project. There is no denying that in the case of the minority, money is being forcibly taken (through the threat of imprisonment or death) without them freely consenting.

6. Lysander Spooner says —
   (On May 24th, 2007 at 5:51 pm)

   Glad you asked, Junior.

   Let’s say I’m at the grocery store. While I’m shopping, you and your henchmen (for convenience, let’s say you own the grocery store and they are milk producers) decide to have a vote on whether or not I should buy whole milk or skim milk. I say, “no thanks, fellas. I have no reason to drink any kind of milk.”

   But you conduct your vote anyway and decide I must buy milk (let’s say skim). I refuse - for WTF do I want milk, anyway? What am I, 10 years-old?

   But then you and your henchmen pull out guns and say if I don’t buy the skim milk, they will throw me in jail. You also accuse me of being anti-milk and anti-Junior’s Grocery Store and tell me that these are the kinds of sacrifices people have to make if they want to have food to eat.

   Now, if you didn’t do this all this coercion, do you still think people would have food to eat and do you think there would still be enough milk fans out there to keep your henchmen’s milk business going?

7. David says —
   (On May 25th, 2007 at 8:59 am)

   You lost me there, Lysander.

8. Lysander Spooner says —
   (On May 30th, 2007 at 5:21 pm)

   Sorry David. I was on some killer shrooms when I posted that.

9. Okie Dokie says —
   (On Jun 12th, 2007 at 12:05 pm)

   Love the articles on this website. I have to agree fully with Junior….”right on.” Spooner lay off the shrooms…they don’t do anything for your intelligence.