I feel like you took the Baldwin quote about Britain exactly opposite of the way it was intended.
It's not about poor, or "envious", people sponging off the state. It's about nepotism of the privileged. Such as Trump's kids and son-in-law ending up in the WhiteHouse and benefiting from it despite their absolute lack of qualification or merit. "New offices" were literally created for them.
(BTW, there is a great tradition in Britain of clergymen being progressive reformers)
Sorry, you're right about "that scenario" -- one in which a colonial power is "involved" at a distance and exercises control through taxation over its colonies.
I mistook Baldwin for a British clergyman, of which there are many who are anything but conservative in their railing against the conservative establishment.
I'm still not convinced that "that scenario" applies to taxation in general.
I’m certainly not opposed to taxation. The whole “taxation is theft” trope that comes out of libertarian circles is something I specifically loathe. Taxation is not theft precisely because we fought a war to make it not so. That was a central point of the American Revolution.
However, the amount of waste and grift in modern America I think compares nicely with that quote. The people in America though cannot claim that they aren’t represented, no matter how absurd their elected representatives may be.
I feel like you took the Baldwin quote about Britain exactly opposite of the way it was intended.
It's not about poor, or "envious", people sponging off the state. It's about nepotism of the privileged. Such as Trump's kids and son-in-law ending up in the WhiteHouse and benefiting from it despite their absolute lack of qualification or merit. "New offices" were literally created for them.
(BTW, there is a great tradition in Britain of clergymen being progressive reformers)
I think it applies perfectly to that scenario.
Sorry, you're right about "that scenario" -- one in which a colonial power is "involved" at a distance and exercises control through taxation over its colonies.
I mistook Baldwin for a British clergyman, of which there are many who are anything but conservative in their railing against the conservative establishment.
I'm still not convinced that "that scenario" applies to taxation in general.
I’m certainly not opposed to taxation. The whole “taxation is theft” trope that comes out of libertarian circles is something I specifically loathe. Taxation is not theft precisely because we fought a war to make it not so. That was a central point of the American Revolution.
However, the amount of waste and grift in modern America I think compares nicely with that quote. The people in America though cannot claim that they aren’t represented, no matter how absurd their elected representatives may be.