Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
George Washington
So what is the difference between the USA and China?
Our government is still a “dangerous servant”.
China’s is a “fearful master”.
But that line is blurring every day.
Hat Tip: Chris Moody @ United Liberty
I wanted to give a shout out to co-blogger Jason Pye, who is currently editor of UnitedLiberty.org, a [fairly] new libertarian group blog.
United Liberty is, much like The Liberty Papers, a “big-tent” libertarian site. They’ll run the gamut from anarcho-capitalists to Ron Paul Republibertarians. They include portions of their site for “headlines” and other news-related items, and I’m sure they’ll have great analysis, as Jason will be posting somewhat over there, and I’ve seen a few posts from Chris Moody of Cato and our own Doug Mataconis. As Jason says, “We want to be inclusive, not exclusive. If you believe in liberty, you have a home at UL.”
When you get a chance, head over and check it out. In addition, they do have some openings for contributors, so if you’re spilling over with things to say in support of liberty but don’t have a venue, let him know.
Kevin Drum, on time filling out forms:
So once you do your taxes you only have about two additional hours of government form filling out to do each year. This is obviously only if you fully understand your taxes, such as understanding tax-resolution and the different types of it. If you are unaware of these things, more time has to be spent in order to fully understand your finances. It’s more if you run a business, of course, or if you’re a contractor. In those cases it makes sense to get an accounting service for contractors on board, but otherwise? To be honest, that’s less than I would have guessed – but that’s probably because I’ve been fooled by the fantastic increase in private sector firms that make up the unseen superstructure of the internet age. As well as the number of different accounting software packages like you can read about in this wave vs quickbooks review, these tools you can find online make business accounting and filing for taxes much easier and quicker. Here’s my guess for me personally: one hour spent filling out government forms in 2008 (an accountant does our taxes) and, oh, let’s say 10,000 hours spent filling out various annoying and idiotically designed online forms that allow me to buy things, access sites, write blog comments, take stupid quizzes, and order new services that allow me to continue living my convenient 21st century net-centric life.
OK, maybe not 10,000 hours. But I wouldn’t be surprised if I spend 30-40 hours a year filling out various online forms for one thing or another. How about you?
So let’s see here… He pays an accountant to do his taxes, but not to fill out forms so he can “take stupid quizzes”.
Why would that be?
My guess is that it has something to do with the fact that if he fills out the tax form wrong, the state can throw him in jail.
Because, you know, if you don’t like online forms to do things like “write blog comments”, it’s pretty easy to opt out. That’s kinda why I don’t comment on blogs that require me to register, because frankly I don’t want to waste that time.
It’s a little different than forms that I must fill out to, you know, WORK (and pay income tax) or DRIVE.
Drum wants to equate private-sector annoyance with that of government. But last time I checked, TypeKey doesn’t have the power to incarcerate me. I’d say that kinda means I don’t have to fill out their form, doesn’t it?
Radley Balko made the following observation at his blog:
“Illinois has sentenced 224 people to death since reinstating capital punishment in 1977. Since then, 20 have been exonerated. I’m not sure what an acceptable rate of error in death penalty cases would be, but nine percent seems awfully high, doesn’t it?”
One wrongfully killed person at the hands of the state is too many, nine percent is completely unacceptable.
Well, when I was awoken by my toddler at 4 AM, and kept up by him all morning, I knew I was in for trouble. 40 oz of coffee later, I’m marginally ready to think.
In the thought that some readers might be as zombie-like as I am, I give you exploding watermelons:
This comes roundabout from FermiLab, a site close enough in proximity to where I grew up that I was assured of thermonuclear vaporization if it had come to MAD during my childhood.
Given that it’s coming from Fermi I strongly suspect that taxpayer dollars were utilized somehow in the destruction of those watermelons.
And part of me wants to get upset over that.
But that part has been overruled by the part of me that says “heheheh, them melons ‘sploded!”
