Thread: Nanny State Strikes Again!

Originally Posted by 1OldGI

The rhetorical equavalent of what stinks worse pig crap or dog crap? But before I rush to judgement perhaps I should take a look at all those places where Socialism has worked wonderfully, you know, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain, Cuba, Iceland, North Korea, all those countries are doing swell, right? Regretably there are factions in my own country who can't wait to be just like them. To those folks I would merely point out that in the United States, there are airplanes departing for most, if not all of these socialist nirvanas daily. Feel free to bust a move. Tyranny is tyranny no matter what color lipstick you put on it.

I think you should check your info on what is socialistic country and what is not. Obviously you have never lived in any (neither have i) but claiming Iceland (for example) as an socialist country you must think that everyone not seeing things your way must be 'socialistic' (or nazi). The bad guys. People living under suppression? Lol.
How can you even compare Iceland and North Korea? What is it they have in common? Or what differences they have (if any), if it's easier for you to answer.

If you want to know what are or have been truly 'socialist' countries, here's the list. Those countries not on the list are not socialistic countries.

I'm not trying to start an argue here. People on this side of the bond see maybe things different. I do not sympathize socialistic systems (those on the Wiki list). Just things ain't ever black and white but mostly shades of grey (even in your country and those on the list).

What it come to op of this thread i see that 'land of the free' must be more a state of mind than something where everyone could freely do everything they wanted to everyone they wanted. Free from human relationships and personal responsibility. No way it works. You have laws there just like we do. Some of yours aren't so tight than here, but some of our are more liberal than yours. We have some stupid laws here and so do you.
I see things the way that not only socialist (or nazi, as they once were) politicians are capable of creating stupid laws. All politicians have excellent qualifications of doing so, even those who represent yours (or anyones) favorite -ism or political party.

And what it comes to beer, selling is legal mo-su 09.00 - 21.00. I've never had problems with that (nor ran out of beer). Shops used to be open on sundays but nowadays most of them usually keeps their doors shut. Mostly because workers want to have at least one day in a week to spend with their families.

You are using Wiki as your authority? Wiki is about as liberal as you can get.

I completely disagree with that list. Their definition of Socialists and mine are far apart. Most of Europe is highly socialistic. Not one of them is on the list.

The US has gone a long way down the socialist path and will go a lot further if the Democrats have their way. When you have 50% of the population paying ZERO tax, socialism is here.

Have you ever been in Europe? If so, pls feel free to name even single European country where 50% of population pays zero taxes. I would happily be willing to live in such place. As far as i know, everyone pays taxes here.

Originally Posted by Sailor

Have you ever been in Europe? If so, pls feel free to name even single European country where 50% of population pays zero taxes. I would happily be willing to live in such place. As far as i know, everyone pays taxes here.

47% of Americans pay ZERO income tax right now. Many get tax credits, so they get MUCH MORE back than they pay in including illegal aliens.

Yes I have been to Europe. Athens, Rhodes, Pisa, Naples, Cannes, Rota, Palma, Barcelona, Malaga, and Edinborough.

Originally Posted by 1OldGI

...
Apparently there is no selling of beer authorized on Sunday before 1100.

Probably an attempt to keep Texans from showing up drunk for Sunday morning services. (SRP Texans excluded.)

Another gov'mnt "solution gone wrong".

Iceland, while not "hard Socialist" totalitarian, in the North Korea, Cuba or Venezuela sense is in fact very Socialist. I lived there for two and a half years. The government pretty much provides cradle to grave security for everyone by subsidizing everything. Annual vacations to mainland Europe, incentives for making babies with foreigners, "free" medical, dental and college, paychecks for life whether you work or not, etc. As nice as that all sounds, any government that generous with "Free" stuff has to pay for it somehow. As a result, the government generally helps themself to 65-70% of your wages right off the top. When you take what little you have left and buy food, there's about a 15-20% tax on that. Gas is also heavily taxed and very, very expensive. Adult beverages or tobacco? Unless you're making it in a still in your basement you probably can't afford the market price. I included Iceland in the list not because they are similar to Cuba or North Korea but Iceland, like many other European Countries that are generally considered Socialist (Portugal, Itally, Greece, Spain, etc.) recently learned the hard way that systems such as these are simply not sustainable. The reality of the situation is that over time governments simply cannot fund all the promises they've made to their people. The result is what we saw in Iceland a few years back and what we now see happening in Greece and Spain. It deeply worries me that even with our future staring our leaders in the face, they can in good faith, usher us right down the same road; bigger government, higher taxes, anti-capitalist policies, kill the rich people, etc. Hopefully, we're not too far gone to be saved.

Even though statistically, it would appear that you've got a 50% chance of not paying any taxes in this country, somehow, that never seems to work out in favor of people who work their asses off. There's actually an income cut-off for paying taxes, if you make less than X, you get back everything you paid in plus some additional money if you claim children or other dependents. So, those folks not only get everything back that they paid in, they get some of what the rest of us paid in. It always struck me as strange that the regime is attacking rich people for "not paying their fair share" when clearly the disparity is on the other end of the spectrum.

Originally Posted by Crotalus

47% of Americans pay ZERO income tax right now. Many get tax credits, so they get MUCH MORE back than they pay in including illegal aliens.

Yes I have been to Europe. Athens, Rhodes, Pisa, Naples, Cannes, Rota, Palma, Barcelona, Malaga, and Edinborough.

So one of your criteria of a socialist country is that a large portion of the populace pays no income taxes? If that's true.....most european countries are not socialist at all.....we get bled dry over here!

Originally Posted by HNSB

I think the title of this thread is misleading. It should be "I am sick of antiquated blue laws." or something like that.
These are old laws on the books because of people using political power to support their religious ideals.

I recently heard a quite conservative pastor argue that the blame for the declining influence of Christianity can be put squarely on the shoulders of several large Christian churches and organizations who worked to implement prohibition. It was a disaster because there is no such thing in the bible to begin with. So when that constitutional amendment got repealed, the Christian church lost an incredible amount of credibility.

Fwiw, the NT says you should not get drunk. It doesn't say you shouldn't drink.
And considering that people in the NT days, including Jesus, drank wine on many occasions, prohibition was a very un-Christian thing.

Originally Posted by Crotalus

47% of Americans pay ZERO income tax right now. Many get tax credits, so they get MUCH MORE back than they pay in including illegal aliens.

Yes I have been to Europe. Athens, Rhodes, Pisa, Naples, Cannes, Rota, Palma, Barcelona, Malaga, and Edinborough.

So you're mentioning Greece, Italy, France, Spain, and the UK.
Please don't argue that 50% of the people there pay no income tax. I can tell you beyond any doubt that that is just plain false.

I think Crotalus means that only ~ 47% of people in the United States pay taxes. Something I had heard before and was quite shocked. It is my wondering that the ~47% is population. A good question is would be where does that number come from? 47% of the population is not horrible when one considers children, elderly-retired, and unemployed. If the stat comes out to be related to able-bodied adults that is a different scenario. There are some good questions and rebuttals here gentlemen and some borderline.