interactive,

The Left is a very broad category. Not everyone on the left agrees with all the others. I certainly don't!

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Yuyutsu,

What constitutes a fair go for cows, sheep, chickens and pigs? Many of them owe their existence to the fact that humans do eat them.

To say a fair go is already here is misleading even in the long term. God has given much of the control to us. And I'm sure God dislikes being used as an excuse for people to perpetuate their own unfairness.

Inflation is not robbing people of their savings. Our government is not forcing people to keep their savings as cash. And there's no good reason for them to encourage the hoarding of it at the moment.

Do you seriously believe that anyone will end up burning in hell for accepting assistance from the government?

The argument from the dogmatic Right that taxation is theft is rather like the one from the dogmatic Left that property is theft. Both taxation and property are absolutely essential to the functioning of any modern society, and if we got rid of them we'd all be much much much poorer.

And what is it that you regard as good work?

Hi Aidan,

Wise words.

"The Left is a very broad category. Not everyone on the left agrees with all the others. I certainly don't!"

Yes, even I, in my infinite wisdom, forget that. Sorry :)

And yes, if turkeys were not eaten, they would be an endangered species. Many vegetables too. Including kale, so it wouldn't all be bad.

Cheers,

Joe

Dear Aidan,

«What constitutes a fair go for cows, sheep, chickens and pigs?»

Allowing nature to take its course.

«Many of them owe their existence to the fact that humans do eat them»

Is this necessarily a good thing? Would you elect for that sort of existence?

«God has given much of the control to us»

According to the way we use it, it could be argued to come from the devil instead.

«Our government is not forcing people to keep their savings as cash»

Sure, we could keep our savings in bags-of-rice, although sooner or later the rats would get them. We could also keep it in gold or foreign-currency, etc., but the moment we want anything more than rice, say a medical treatment, we would need to pay CGT on the nominal dollars we get from selling our rice and what remains may not be enough to pay the doctor.

«Do you seriously believe that anyone will end up burning in hell for accepting assistance from the government?»

That's only an idiom, but one would acquire negative karma as a result which would eventually cause them to suffer in a similar/equivalent way to those from whom the tax-money was involuntarily taken.

«The argument from the dogmatic Right that taxation is theft»

I don't know about this Left vs. Right, I only know that taking people's possessions against their will is theft (if covert, robbery if overt); and that scripture tells us that it is wrong. Taxation need not involve theft: so long as it is voluntary it's OK, but currently it is not.

«...are absolutely essential to the functioning of any modern society»

If modern society is that good, then you should be able to convince people to participate in it voluntarily.

«And what is it that you regard as good work?»

I'll never be able to fit in 350 words all the good things that people can do to benefit others, even when they receive little or no pecuniary benefits for it.

Yuyutsu,

Allowing nature to take its course would be much crueller than the status quo in most cases. Neither the wild nor farmed alternative is particularly appealing, but at least farm animals are provided with food, water and shelter that may not be available to their wild counterparts, and we do have mandatory animal welfare standards (though I'd like to see those tightened).

"«God has given much of the control to us»
According to the way we use it, it could be argued to come from the devil instead."
Almost anything could be argued, but that argument doesn't make any sense. For a start, why would the devil have the control to give? I also note that it's incompatible with your previous argument about God managing the system and already giving everyone a fair go.

I'm curious as to whether you consider it immoral to accept assistance from a state that's only partly funded by taxation?

Scripture does not tell us taxation is wrong. The concept of taxation was familiar before the commandment not to steal was given, and God did not claim that taxation is theft. Nor did Jesus say anything against taxation when asked about it. Even in ancient civilizations, taxation was regarded as necessary.

Your suggestion of making tax voluntary would result in "those honourable people with a moral spine paying to support those without" as everyone within a state benefits from its existence in some way, even if they don't realise it.

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Loudmouth,

WTF do you have against kale? I regard it as quite a good thing, as it holds gravy better than ordinary cabbage.

//Loudmouth,

WTF do you have against kale?//

Presumably he doesn't know how to cook with it properly. Scottish methods of cookery are clearly the best way to handle kale: batter it and deep fry it. With a thick enough coating of batter, you wil'nae even notice the leafy green shite.

You're right, Toni, I've tried that with weeds and it works ! Sour sobs do well. A bit of batter, pepper and salt, and it's free. I've seen top-class kale being sold in an eastern suburbs up-itself shop for $ 15.99 a kilo, $ 1.99 for 100 gm. And people buying it. I tried to sell them some weeds @ only $ 1.99 but I was hunted off, back to the western suburbs.

Joe