Level Set - Part 1

On the off chance that people find me who have no idea who the hell I am, let's level set some things.

On the opening post on this new site, I defined myself through a range of political ideas, primarily because there's no label that fits. Which is true of most of us, but... Plus, when you use those terms independently, it brings to mind many things. Example, the term Libertarian often brings to mind angry Ron Paul supporters who want no war, all drugs legal, and almost no government. Of course they forget that Ron Paul is a vehement opponent of abortion. I could simply call myself a Libertarian and allow it to fall into the wide spectrum of that ideology, which tends to range from near Conservative thoughts to Anarcho-capitalists.

I am generally opposed to the idea of war, mainly because we don't have the balls to fight it in the way it needs to be done. War, combat in general, is abhorrent and should be reserved for only the most extreme of cases. If you don't engage in war with the intention of winning at all costs, you've started off at a severe disadvantage and will more than likely lose in the long run.
In WWII, one of the factors that allowed us to win is that we didn't hold back because of civilian casualties. Sure, our troops generally made sure to avoid it, but if it happened, they didn't pull back to the start, hold press conferences apologizing to the world, and let the enemy fortify their positions. They shrugged, said they were sorry, and pressed on. Now, when Hezbollah shells Israel from Lebanon and the Israelis role a tank brigade halfway through the country, we cry out about "proportional response". Fuck that noise.
My position: Be peaceful, a friend to everyone. But when someone throws a rock at you, shoot them in the head. With a rocket-propelled grenade. You can be pretty sure someone will think twice before throwing a rock.

Taxes - A low as is heavenly possible, based on how that level of government was defined. Yes children, we have multiple levels of government. Not just one national one, as we are not a nation. (More later on that)
Starting from the fed income tax: Flat. Period. One percentage rate from the guy making $1 to those making $1,000,000,000. Starting point; 18%. There are zero deductions, zero exceptions. Your income tax form is a post card. All the money wasted on lawyers and accountants goes to more fruitful endeavors. While the idea of a Fair Tax is nice (for those who have no idea or don't want to follow the link - think national sales tax, no income tax), I think it still leaves too much of a governmental structure in place to administer it. I would like to see the tax go DOWN from 18%, but I'd also like to see $1,000,000 in my checking account. A little boy can dream. But a Flat Tax treats everyone the same; no one can use their clout or their position in life as an excuse to get out of it. Yes, those who work "under the table" would be skating around it, but maybe that would push something like the Fair Tax to the surface and force that in place to catch everyone. Next.
Corporate/business tax: Eliminate. Yes, eliminate it. Look, anyone who thinks that these corporate taxes are truly taking from the profits of companies and forcing them to be "fair" is stupid. All these companies do is roll that tax burden into the cost of doing business and adjust their staff or prices accordingly. If they can't cut people or increase their prices, they go out of business. It's pretty simple, folks. So if you cut the corporate taxes, the prices would fall. "They'd just keep the money, those greedy pigs!" Please... No business can truly get away with being that scummy. Not anymore. Unless they have friends in government. More of that later.
From there going down, the taxes should be just enough to keep that level functioning based on the constitution (for states) or other articles of incorporation (counties, cities/towns, etc...).

Government - Grover Norquist had a great line "I don't want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub" Cold symbolism, but that about sets it for me. Contrary to progressive belief, the Constitution of The United States of America doesn't give the federal government the power to do whatever it wants by "ruling through clauses". There are specific things, detailed in the Articles and the Amendments that define what the federal government can do. If it's not detailed, it's a power reserved to the states and the people. If the state constitution doesn't specify it, it's a power reserved to the county, then the town. And guess what? Amendment 10 is pretty clear; "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." It's only because we've allowed the federal government to overreach their powers that we're in the state we're in. Government is to be subservient to the people. When the people are subservient to the government, you have a tyranny and we're pretty much dangling on the edge of that one.

More level setting later.