[quote=pri_dk][quote=jstoesz]If you steal from the rich to give to the poor, you are still a thief (even if you are blanketed in the authority of the government).[/quote]
So now the government is no longer the body that defines “theft?”
The government is not the authority that determines what is lawful and unlawful?
Then who is?
Tell me how government can steal. Tell me what distinguishes a dollar that is “stolen” by the government from one that is not.
[quote]Furthermore, even if you can show that some rich people have screwed over the lower classes, how do you then justify government confiscation and redistribution as a moral solution?[/quote]
I think you just answered your own question there.
But why the word “confiscation?” Once again, tell me the difference between a dollar that as collected through taxes vs. “confiscation.”
What percentage of the checks I send to the IRS is “confiscated?”[/quote]
You ask good questions, and I guess I would like to hear your thoughts on their answers. When is a tax rate too high?
You are asking something much bigger than tax rates. You are asking questions about what is right and wrong.
As I see it there are two prevailing schools of thought on right and wrong. One is based on humanistic, pragmatic terms. “What is best for society at this time” terms.
The other school of thought is that right and wrong are fixed with no regard for convenience or pragmatism. I have a feeling our founders were alluding to this when they said man was born with unalienable rights.
I suspect we subscribe to two different schools. From that point on, one of us will have to presume the other school of thought is correct.
