elp1stolero

Ha! A topic bound to fail.

I think Kickstarter has helped greatly in the area of traction (obviously, it doesn't apply to all situations). If you can successfully communicate an idea - and there is demand for it - you can marshal support.

A wise man once said,

"Seeking clarity is more valuable than agreement."

That changed the way I think about writing, and sharing my opinions or discussing other people's ideas. If you go into a disagreement looking to better understand what led the other party to their beliefs, you typically have a more mature and interesting discussion. Plus, why someone believes something I completely disagree with is more interesting than the what, anyway. It is likely in the end that you both may agree to disagree, (a lost art in this age), but at least you can converse respectfully about complex ideas like adults.

I certainly feel your sentiment, werner38 (Re: Paris Hilton - right?), but I disagree with your conclusions.

And I agree with you that it is not necessarily a positive outcome that a king's heir would assume the wealth of the king. However, I think the trade-off of using law to essentially plunder property (again, assuming the property was acquired through no act of injustice), undermines the purpose of law - to defend against injustice.

Property (acquired or created justly) is typically an outcome of liberty, and often fate (birth, luck, etc). I don't believe we can alter either of these conditions through tax law (force) without undermining the justice of law itself.

Furthermore, in my view, I don't believe an individual's property is something that anyone else has a claim to dispense with, especially a political organ such as the 'the state' (an entity which bears very little responsibility for the outcome of it's economic and financial actions).

That doesn't mean I necessarily like the idea of people amassing or acquiring resources without work. But the reason I work hard is to benefit the things which I choose to value: my family, my community, the erasing of Star Wars Ep. 1-3 from history, etc. I want to give my kids a better shot at life than myself. Property may be a component, but is far down the list from things like values, and work ethic. But these are my choices for my life. That to me, is the American Dream - to be free live how I choose - not wealth and things. Whether I am very rich at some point, or not - I don't believe force should be employed to negate or alter my choices, nor do I wish to use force to alter your's or someone else's.

Maybe I'm way out of my gourd, but the fact that Paris Hilton has a huge amount of wealth, and no values is a total failure of her parents - not the inheritance itself.

Just want to say how refreshing it is to hear someone mention 'Trade-offs' rather than 'solutions.' For me, that is typically a way to spot the difference between economic thinking (former), and political thinking (latter).