Hello, DU. I am a libertarian.

[R.Quinn]

41. Some more responses for you

Last edited Tue Sep 23, 2014, 05:11 PM - Edit history (1)

I didn't say a 10% flat tax is "more" fair; I just said it would tax people less, leaving considerably more money in your pockets for those pesky living expenses. Also, I did not say that a flat tax is unfair to lower wage workers; I simply observed that $1,000 means more to a lower earner than to a higher earner. That observation, however, is not a justification to punish someone who has more money by taxing them at a higher rate. Fairness and equality are not the same thing. If you want fairness, tax everyone the same. If you want (eventual) equality, tax everyone based on their income. So which are you after? Fairness or equality?

I should have mentioned before that I have several objections to a minimum wage, one of them being out of fear of job loss and another being out of principle (although as a libertarian, that shouldn't surprise you). I admit that was my mistake. I did not intend to deceive. However, I don't appreciate how quickly you dismissed my charge of a violation of liberty as meaning "exactly nothing" without explaining yourself. It's akin to shooting down a point by simply saying, "That's stupid." I even gave you an example, which you did not mention. The mention of wage increases due to inflation indexing is not simply a "red herring", another point you quickly dismissed as irrelevant. You believe that minimum wage increases help increase jobs, but if wages are only being increased because of inflation, then they have no effect on jobs because they are only keeping pace with the devaluation of the dollar. Whatever job increases may happen are not because of minimum wage increases at all.

Nukes and chemical/biological weapons do not conform to any definition of just warfare as they have no capacity for distinguishing/targeting combatants from non-combatants. Therefore, there is no moral argument for anyone to possess or use such weaponry. I'm sure you and I can agree on this matter. Your pessimism regarding citizen-owned firearms preventing tyranny is not a justification to remove/diminish citizens' abilities to arm themselves. And if you really feel that way about the US military, then we have a much bigger problem than citizen-owned rocket launchers.

As for freedom of association, I've already told you that I'd also agree that such discrimination to be morally abhorrent, but I think you exaggerate the problems, if any, that would actually arise. The police don't have the right to go anywhere they please. That's what search warrants are for. If they want to enter/search the private premises of a business, they get a search warrant. Do you ever see the police "tail" a suspect right into the suspect's own house? Nope. Get a warrant for that. The police will be just fine. If a business owner is found out to be an intolerant person, public opinion will quickly turn against them, and the free market will weed them out. The free market is great at doing that. You really should trust it more.

I don't doubt that my time on the DU will change some of my thinking. But what those changes will be, only time will tell It's a pleasure debating with you.