And everyone stopped posting here in late August — 80 some days ago. Why is that? Is it because the readers saw that merely posting words back and forth online wasn’t getting anything done? That actions by people like Conservateacher are what is really necessary?

You see — that was the point I made that Dan and Kanye completely missed. And Dan: it’s veil – not Vail. This is supposed to be a stop for wordsmiths. Start acting and spelling like one.

I know of others too who are worried about the power grab by this administration and the encroachment of the govt into our lives. In my circle, people have had enough and it’s movements like this that really get people informed and motivated to actually “do” something.

“What at first was plunder assumed the softer name of revenue.” ~Thomas Paine

So, according to Paine, tax is not just confiscation but plunder!

“Plunder rates are set to rise by 30%!” Has a nice ring to it.

What I found is that we have people here arguing semantics, spell-check and grammar about what to call government intervention in our lives. But what will that do? Are there people from the “government” reading this and saying, “Whoooeee, we’d better look out because the sheeple are getting angry and using words to express that anger.”? Probably not.

My first suggestion is to get a grip (on reality).

Second, start recruiting candidates and work to throw out all the current government drones and replace them with new drones — people who will be become drones once they realize the trappings of power over other peoples’ lives. Then throw them out in the next election cycle.

Stop whining about government unless you’re willing to stand straight up in the open and declare the famous Howard Beale line: “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more.” And then don’t forget to act on it. Otherwise, this is just a waste of time and electricity… and words.

BTW
confiscate
–verb (used with object) 1. to seize as forfeited to the public domain; appropriate, by way of penalty, for public use.
2. to seize by or as if by authority; appropriate summarily: The border guards confiscated our movie cameras.
–adjective 3. seized.

Confiscate is pretty good but I think Extort is better (1a)
Remember Government is the threat of violence, if the Government says you have to do something and you resist long enough and strong enough it will come to violence.

extort
–verb (used with object) 1. Law. a. to wrest or wring (money, information, etc.) from a person by violence, intimidation, or abuse of authority; obtain by force, torture, threat, or the like.
b. to take illegally by reason of one’s office.

2. to compel (something) of a person or thing: Her wit and intelligence extorted their admiration.

I agree with the idea that words are powerful and I’d like to write something similar for the medical cannabis movement.

Thank you,
Cheryl

Nevertheless, using conservative biased terms such as “confiscation” is not much better than using liberal biased terms such as “revenue!” I would much prefer calling taxes “contributions” or “assessments” and then requiring them to stay within the boundaries of those terms! Both contributions and assessments have the connotation of willingness to pay! To a certain extent I am willing to contribute to government infrastructure and to pay assessments for benefits. However, beyond those points, my willingness to pay is exceeded!

The worst form of terminology, however, is two-sided terminology. Two-sided terminology has a double meaning depending upon the listener. For example, when Obama says he will “change” America, he is using two-sided terminology. On the one side, he reaches the moderate supporters by implying changes within the context of acceptable American mores. On the other side, he appeals to the radical supporters that advocate sweeping changes outside the boundaries of American culture. Such terminology inhibits clarification and often masks hidden agendas.

Terminology is important for clarification. Clarification is important for honesty!

Our feelings about taxes are often ambiguous and vary with whether or not we approve of the “service” received for the tax payment or whether we feel the use of the funds is immoral. When others understand that by being forced to fund programs they may have an aversion to, or that by refusing to give their dollars to a program they find to be immoral (war, abortion, dependency, whatever) could result in their imprisonment, they come to understand that it truly is “confiscation.”

Your point, though, is a good one – users of these words have to determine how effective the use will be for the audience. The point is not to inflame or aggravate. The point is to give pause and have others reconsider how Big Government intervenes in their lives in negative ways.

It can get very philosophical and the result unpredictable.

You goal shouldn’t be to empahsize being correct, but being understood.