Comments on: Boulder Ballot Issue 1B: The Power of Compulsory Charity http://wakalix.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/boulder-ballot-issue-1b-worthy-cause-compulsory-charity/ Life, liberty, & the pursuit of happiness Wed, 11 Apr 2012 02:44:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: nub http://wakalix.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/boulder-ballot-issue-1b-worthy-cause-compulsory-charity/#comment-176 Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:24:52 +0000 http://www.wakalix.com/wp/?p=379#comment-176 i can understand opposing this ballot issue on standard anti-tax grounds. i can understand calling it unfair, or even wrong. what i don’t understand is your use of the terms “intolerant, arrogant and elitist.” can you elaborate on what makes it any of those things? the previous post didn’t explain it either. it seems to me that you’ve just appropriated the incendiary buzzwords of the politically correct left (“intolerant”) and culture warrior right (“arrogant and elitist”) and applied them in a context where they don’t really belong.

Brian replies:
OK, you might have me on “arrogant.” People might support mandatory charity out of arrogance, but certainly it’s not essential. I find mandatory charity intolerant to other people’s views of what is a worthy cause to them, and how they use the money they earn to express their own values. Also, having the political class decide what is a worthy cause by spending other people’s money by force strikes me as elitist.

]]> By: nub http://wakalix.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/boulder-ballot-issue-1b-worthy-cause-compulsory-charity/#comment-177 Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:24:00 +0000 http://www.wakalix.com/wp/?p=379#comment-177 i can understand opposing this ballot issue on standard anti-tax grounds. i can understand calling it unfair, or even wrong. what i don’t understand is your use of the terms “intolerant, arrogant and elitist.” can you elaborate on what makes it any of those things? the previous post didn’t explain it either. it seems to me that you’ve just appropriated the incendiary buzzwords of the politically correct left (“intolerant”) and culture warrior right (“arrogant and elitist”) and applied them in a context where they don’t really belong.

Brian replies:
OK, you might have me on “arrogant.” People might support mandatory charity out of arrogance, but certainly it’s not essential. I find mandatory charity intolerant to other people’s views of what is a worthy cause to them, and how they use the money they earn to express their own values. Also, having the political class decide what is a worthy cause by spending other people’s money by force strikes me as elitist.

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