this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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The plaintiffs’ arguments in Moore v. United States have little basis in law — unless you think that a list of long-ago-discarded laissez-faire decisions from the early 20th century remain good law. And a decision favoring these plaintiffs could blow a huge hole in the federal budget. While no Warren-style wealth tax is on the books, the Moore plaintiffs do challenge an existing tax that is expected to raise $340 billion over the course of a decade.

But Republicans also hold six seats on the nation’s highest Court, so there is some risk that a majority of the justices will accept the plaintiffs’ dubious legal arguments. And if they do so, they could do considerable damage to the government’s ability to fund itself.

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Do any of these fucken galaxy brains stop for a second to think what reality would be like the minute the government can't fund itself? Because, I do, and I'm targeting their houses first.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 11 months ago (1 children)

"My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub." - Grover Norquist, Republican lobbyist

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That sounds like some shit a dude with the name Grover would say. Is he also the monster at the end of this book?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If the book is titled "Imagine What America Would Look Like if a Single Shitbag Convinced Republicans to Vote Against Every Tax Increase for Thirty Years", then yes, yes he is.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

We are long overdue to cut out these middlemen in our representation. Not saying I know how, but it seems like even a small amount of power corrupts absolutely.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yes. That's why they're doing it. They want to destroy the government so they can convince us to replace it with the feudal society they have in mind. They think they have enough control over sufficient resources that they'll be safe from any violence you might offer thanks to their private armies.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Strange, considering they have no skills and their money will become useless. How do they keep their guards from becoming warlords when the only thing between them and that title is an unworked body?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Control over food, housing, entertainment, and other non-monetary valuables. Then they can start printing their own script to pay their mercenary forces.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (95 children)

You do have a point, I guess it really depends on the damage done from the fallout. A government crashing, and a nation dissolving is sure to cause a ruckus. If modern commodities are gone and we're banished back to primitives, the billionaires will have a rough time holding modern survivors. What are you lording over? My xbox is dead and I can set my tent up 49 yards to the west. Food supplies and clean drinking water would probably become the highest factors of control. I just don't see any of these "elite" piss babies actually being hard enough to survive in a world where you have to shit on the street and bury it. Hell, if they got what they wanted and our government did dissolve, I promise other nations will be swooping in to grab land and this conversation would have to take a new form.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

They're living in gated communities with tall walls and private police forces. As long as they promise their mercenary armies a cut of the spoils, they're not worried about continuing to control resources. They don't need to be physically hard, they're sociopathic enough to justify any cruelty to anyone they want in order to get their way. They're all sure they'll become royalty in the new order, if not the king/queen of their domain.

They have a plan, and they've gathered the means to accomplish their goals. What remains to be seen is how well their defenses will stand up in the ensuing chaos.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

That is probably my point. The upheaval would be of biblical proportions. They are not ready to weather the storm. No one is. You saw what happened to supplies when Covid lockdowns were announced here. Imagine if the end of society was announced.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

They think they're ready. That's why they're pulling the trigger on this, and damn the consequences.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Gamma World it is then. I hope the villages of our descendants prosper.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe was a feel-good story about this very phenomenon.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

I actually wrote a poem for a writing prompt on bad site that was really just this. Instead of the Red Death, Governor Goodwill was suprisingly confronted by the survivors of the society he helped overthrow.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

They assume I guess that China and Russia and rest of the world will just not do shit when we have no government ie no armies to defend us with?

They are so fucking stupid.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Killbots and nuclear dead man's switches. Ruling from secret locations. Playing subordinates off each other. Offering them another faction to fight but tying their arm behind their back so they can't ever win that fight. Putting someone no one wants to follow next in line of succession. Living in a fortress where someone in a security room can lock the whole place down to prevent any coup from establishing their power. Setting fake honeypot assassinations as traps so that no one is willing to risk not reporting real ones because anyone who hears about one and doesn't report it gets executed. Threatening families and other loved ones if anyone steps out of line. Only trusting people that they have significant dirt on that will be released on the leader's death so that people in positions to take him down know they'll go down with him, so instead protect him from any who decide they are willing to go down.

Though the position will be tenuous, even with all of that.

IT people will be in the security people's position for the killbots and dead man's switches. Enemies can work together to take down a common enemy. Someone who suggests not tying their arms behind their back vs enemy faction could seize power. A coup could take out any in the line of succession they don't like. Buddy in the security room would gain the power of IT/security people, or they could send in other assassins. The fake honeypot assassinations could serve as cover for a real one (if they report it, good job you passed the test! If they don't and instead succeed in assassinating, good job, you got him!). Relying too much on threats to loved ones can leave you vulnerable to psychopaths that don't care about anyone else, or those who don't have anyone (not to mention group punishments tend to create more enemies). And relying on compromat might be risky in the age of fake news and deep fake videos.