[hosepipe]

[ Unless and until property taxes are abolished, I'll just go merrily along as a co-owner with the state in all of my affairs, while voting against them at every turn. ]

If you OWN something then how can it be taxed?...
Then its merely renting.. All home owners rent their houses from the state/county and city..

Thats being the mere start of things you don't own.. but rent..

[budwiesest]

Without hijacking this thread, I'm inclined to agree with the original post, that we ought not wait until attacked again to assert our role as lone super-power.

That said, the seperation and recognition of individual rights from the state is a good thing, and would pay healthy dividends to all, especially in the Mid East, were they to employ them. Religion won't allow it. The state resists it. A free people demand it.

What brought me here initially was a desire to 'roll back' excessive powers that accrued to the state/fed that seemed to negate protections guaranteed to individuals by our constitution. If liberty and freedom are the yardstick by which we must measure our bravery, then God help us. Cowardice abounds. Collective cowardice may appeal to those clinging to the hope that tyranny may be averted-- given a certain strength in numbers, but it too will fail.

The only thing that has true lasting power is freedom. Dictatorships, oligarchies, communal societies, all fail as they are built upon a false premise. None accept freedom and individual liberty as a necessary foundation for a lasting society. Lacking a solid foundation, whatever one choses to build above it remains at risk.