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Re:Ask HN: How to continue to be gracious about the good for... by vimax on Wednesday January 05, 2022 @12:02AM (#29805328)
You seem to be saying that anything short of living your philosophical ideals is hypocrisy.

There are a lot of government policies I think should be criminal, but nobody suggests that my only options are accept the policy or completely denounce society.

I think that the large telecoms are built on theft from society and that copyright laws are too extensive. Should I leave society to go live on Sealand?

Re:Ask HN: How to continue to be gracious about the good for... by vasco on Wednesday January 05, 2022 @12:56AM (#29805667)
That's not the point, you're arguing some parts of the implicit contract package deal you get given when you are born are not perfect. They are arguing that they should be able to sign such an agreement and that it shouldn't be implicit when you're born so that you could renounce this contract - which only works for hermits or self entitled people that came into some money and haven't had the inclination to read how a society functions.
Re:Ask HN: How to continue to be gracious about the good for... by HWR_14 on Wednesday January 05, 2022 @12:51AM (#29805633)
You're pretty unfair with your criticism. I wasn't claiming you must reject all of society if you disagree with any aspect. My point was that you can avoid taxes - they happen to be 100% optional. And yet no person who claims taxes are theft is willing to do so.

To use an analogy, you're saying "look, not every restaurant serves your favorite food, why do you call people hypocrites who go out to eat at those places" and I'm saying "the people I call hypocrites are the ones who claim it's a moral imperative to refuse to tip or even pay the check who insist on going out to eat"

Re:Ask HN: How to continue to be gracious about the good for... by vimax on Wednesday January 05, 2022 @03:07AM (#29806402)
In what way are taxes 100% optional? In the sense that using AT&T is optional because I can move of I don't like it?

I don't follow your restaurant analogy. Someone can recognize that tipping is harmful to the wait staff, but continue to tip knowing that to do otherwise would only hurt the wait staff and not the restaurant.

Re:Ask HN: How to continue to be gracious about the good for... by germandiago on Wednesday January 05, 2022 @05:30AM (#29807375)
With a private service you always have alternatives.

With a government imposition you must pay, noone asks you, and, on top of that, you do not use those services most of the time. But if you use them, why they do not ask you if you want? That is exactly how real life works... except for government impositions.

Re:Ask HN: How to continue to be gracious about the good for... by HWR_14 on Wednesday January 05, 2022 @10:46AM (#29810386)
You can leave the country and renounce your citizenship. Boom, taxes avoided. Otherwise, you're continuing to benefit from the government so you pay taxes. It's a voluntary arrangement to be a citizen of free societies.
Re:Ask HN: How to continue to be gracious about the good for... by nopzor on Wednesday January 05, 2022 @06:50PM (#29816995)
so the usa isn’t a free society?
Re:Ask HN: How to continue to be gracious about the good for... by HWR_14 on Wednesday January 05, 2022 @07:25PM (#29817351)
You can renounce your US citizenship