My Half-Baked Idea That Has Little Merit

[DanS]

I never voted for huge tax cuts. What are you talking about? That's the congresscritters' jobs.

If I were a congresscritter, I would have voted for spending reductions in other areas as well as the tax cuts.

[Asher]

Originally posted by DanS
I never voted for huge tax cuts. What are you talking about? That's the congresscritters' jobs.

Don't be pedantic, you voted for someone who said he would provide huge tax cuts.

[DanS]

No I didn't. I vote in the District of Columbia. I have no representative or Senators. I have a delegate with substantially limited powers.

[Boris Godunov]

As well as? How generous. We've never had tax cuts during a war before. And you voted for the folks who promised to cut taxes, so I consider that you voting for tax cuts.

You could also enlist. Volunteer at a VA hospital. Some folks are helping buy armor plating and kevlar vests and sending them to soldiers, since they aren't getting them from the government. Hell, even anti-war folks have done that stuff.

Sitting on a fat tax refund while cheering the war? Yeah, thanks a lot!

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by DanS
No I didn't. I vote in the District of Columbia. I have no representative or Senators. I have a delegate.

Bush, you twit.

[DanS]

The congress taxes and spends. That's not Bush's bailiwick.

[Asher]

Originally posted by DanS
The congress taxes and spends. That's not Bush's bailiwick.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/reports/taxplan.html

[DanS]

Bush's plans are just first drafts (and mostly, not even that), before the sausage is made in the congress. They're nothing more than suggestions.

[Asher]

/me pins DanS so he squirms less.

[Verto]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

A second part of this would be that if a declaration of war was made, all able-bodied males of the appropriate age would be required to enlist with local military offices for possible deployment, undergoing training and testing similar to the Reserves(or NG, whichever takes place on the weekends every so often) on a staggered basis.

Little merit.

People would be less likely to support "frivolous" wars, or rather, they would put more thought into it before deciding, if it would impact their own life, or the life of their children.

Actually, this is really just a "preliminary draft", with people receiving preparatory training, with the possibility of being deployed. A step beyond the Selective Service, but not an automatic draft.

[Imran Siddiqui]

People would be less likely to support "frivolous" wars, or rather, they would put more thought into it before deciding, if it would impact their own life, or the life of their children.

So you'd want to teach MEN (and only men) a lesson by forcing all of them who are able into military servitude? Do you have ANY idea what kind of horrors that would wreck on the economy?

Best to use our volunteer army, who, you know, signed up for this kind of stuff.

[Verto]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

People would be less likely to support "frivolous" wars, or rather, they would put more thought into it before deciding, if it would impact their own life, or the life of their children.

So you'd want to teach MEN (and only men) a lesson by forcing all of them who are able into military servitude? Do you have ANY idea what kind of horrors that would wreck on the economy?

Best to use our volunteer army, who, you know, signed up for this kind of stuff.

No, like I said it would not be an automatic draft, and the training itself would occur on a staggered schedule.

[Imran Siddiqui]

How staggered? And enlisting for deployment sounds like a draft to me, even if you say it is really only like the national guard (that is still a draft).

I still think it has little merit.

[Verto]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


I still think it has little merit.

Me too.

[drake]

Dan mentioning his great contribution to the war effort got me thinking about another half-baked idea that has little merit...wouldn't it be nice to be able to determine where and how your tax dollars get spent (at least to some degree), instead of relying on stupid politicians to decide for you? It's bad enough that we have to pay such heavy taxes, but it's insult to injury when our tax dollars are spent on wars or programs or initiatives that we don't believe in.

Now I'm not suggesting being able to divert all of our taxes to a single cause, as the government still needs to be able to cover all the minimum bases (even the ones we never think about), but it would be nice to have some say as to where your tax money goes, even if it is only 5-10%.

Setting up a section on the tax form such as:

Which account would you like to place your elective tax dollars in:
- Defense
- Education
- Infastructure
- Emergency
- Govt. Discretion
etc.

Would ensure that your contribution is diverted into an account that is used exclusively what it is designated for. The amount in these designated accounts would help determine each annual budget and reflect the values of the people, rather than a selected few. No swapping, no borrowing, that's what you meatheads got to work with. Make it happen.

Obviously I'm not considering any logistics here and I'm sure anyone here could poke a million holes in it, though I still think it sounds pretty good in theory. It could make people feel more empowered and perhaps even spark more political interest within the disinfranchised. Perhaps not.

Pipe dream, no doubt.

Good day.