zlacker

Indeed. I think people have been paying too much in taxes. Once tax revenue is diminished, all of this wasteful liberty-harming spending is supposed to correct itself. Regular workers don't have much of a choice in how much they pay, but businesses do.

>>OutOfH+(OP)
Got to get rid of frivolous seizures/fines too. Back in the '09 crash police in my state were ticketing people like crazy, for even the tiniest infraction, due to reduced tax revenues. They'll never willingly give up their salaries so long as a single route is left for them to suck up the cash.

>>OutOfH+(OP)
> Indeed. I think people have been paying too much in taxes. Once tax revenue is diminished, all of this wasteful liberty-harming spending is supposed to correct itself.

My friend, the only thing that's going to diminish is public services that actually help people. The police state is the primary state organ dedicated to protecting people with political power from the hoi polloi, it's the one thing that's never going to go away.

If the past few thousand years of history is any indication, these people will wring every last cent out of you to pay a professional warrior class that will protect them from you.

>>mothba+H
Quite true. Do you have any solutions that come to mind?

I sold my car and have been at peace ever since. No more tickets. Believe it or not, but even when I lived in the distant suburbs, it was generally feasible to bike to the office, particularly if one lives very near to work. Now I live in more crowded suburbs where I can rely on Uber/Lyft or public transportation. If I had to purchase a means to transportation, it's most likely to be an ebike, potentially even a three-wheeled one. The main time when they aren't good enough is in deep winter when the temperature is about 10F or less. Always wear a helmet and highly reflective clothing when on these things, and mind the speed.

>>vkou+M4
Oh you're not wrong at all, but the police state can conceivably be much weaker, as I have seen it to be in various other countries, where the police mostly only affect people who're actually a harm to those in power, not bothering with enforcing stupid laws like anti-abortion laws. If I am not mistaken, the rich people with power don't really have that much to gain with anti-abortion laws, at least not in the short term. So yes, the police are not going away, nor should they, but even in the pessimistic case, they merit alignment with what actually preserves the rich and powerful. The US is a special case where anti-abortion laws are used as a means to get and maintain some votes, but I foresee it as slowly coming closer to the global median.