https://barelyablog.com/neocon-style-social-engineering/ by ilana mercer Wed, 02 Apr 2025 19:29:09 +0000 hourly 1 https://barelyablog.com/neocon-style-social-engineering/comment-page-1/#comment-4690 Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:26:48 +0000 http://barelyablog.com/?p=3299#comment-4690 Wonder what Mr. Krauthammer has in mind for the proposed Cow and Pig Gas Tax. Or might that have been his idea?

]]> https://barelyablog.com/neocon-style-social-engineering/comment-page-1/#comment-4683 Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:19:55 +0000 http://barelyablog.com/?p=3299#comment-4683 The only preferable part of excise taxes are: (a) they can be avoided in part by changing behavior patterns – e.g. smoke less or drive less and (b) they don’t involve too much governmental monitoring. But this is like stating that a cold is better than pneumonia. What is unstated is why the government should have money in the first place since the government should exist MERELY to assure our rights, and NOT to manage our behavior. Perhaps tax A is better than tax B. Arguably, tax C is most certainly better than war D (if “war D” is being fought “for oil”) but underlying these debates is the assumption that we are all pawns of the all-knowing government. {Given that assumption, Krauthammer’s statist logic is quite reasonable.}

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