Respect
You may wonder why I refer to our illustrious rulers as the "gubmint"?
it is quite simple really. I hold them in such deep contempt that to use the word "government" is to afford them a level of respect which frankly they just don't deserve.
I don't hate them as such. Hatred is a self defeating emotion that would burn me up and wouldn't affect them one iota. Contempt is better as I can then justify my ignoring them and all their actions. Giving them titles such as Minister or Taoiseach implies a level of respect which is non existent, and implies that they are somehow superior to me, which they are not. They are technically my servants though you wouldn't think so by their attitudes and actions.
There are only two things that really annoy me about them. Only two, you ask? Well, they are two fairly important factors.
The first is their attitude that they are entitled to my money and possessions. They seem to think they own me rather than owe me. There is virtually no aspect of my life where they don't try to skim some of my earnings. They demand a tax on my pension, my house, my water, and virtually everything I buy. They examine my accounts to make sure I am not spending too much and to see if I may have some "undeclared income". They watch every move to see if they can raid extra cash. If I save some money, they skim some off that. If I spend it, they skim some off that too.
And if I fail to pay them what they think is due to them, they can get an attachment order and just take it directly out of my pension before I even get to see it. I get the bones after they have picked off the meat. I would love to hear an argument that this isn't downright theft of private property.
The other thing that really pisses me off is their attitude that they know best what's good for me. I am no longer an individual but just a number who has to be told what I can and cannot do, sometimes "for the public good" and sometimes because I may harm myself.
In my book, the individual is supreme and trumps "society" except in those cases where I may harm others. If my actions pose no threat to others then it is none of the fucking gubmint's business what I do. If I want to smoke, drink or eat fatty foods that is my business and no one else's. If I want to install an extra power socket in the house, why should I have to "obey the law" and get a "government approved" rip-off merchant to do it? If I want to drive without wearing a seat belt or cycle without a helmet it is no one's business but my own. If I want to put cyanide in my e-cigarette then what fucking business is it of theirs?
Contrary to the gubmint's opinion, I know the risks involved in my actions. If I want to take those risks that is entirely up to me. The fact that they seem to think they know better than me shows that they have zero respect for my intelligence and experience so why should I have any respect whatsoever for them?
So I shall continue to ignore their actions and their attempts to rob me and rule my life, and shall continue to treat them with the same contempt with which they treat me.
You are getting closer to the Swedish way of thinking. Not me but our politicians. They are trying to convince us minions that cash is a thing of the past. We have today only one bank who is providing cash in the bank (Svenska Handelsbanken, my bank of course). We, the people, have to use the ATM. Period. That goes for Linda, 94, to!
They, banks and politicians, is telling us that it is for our own good. We can get robbed if we carry cash. The goal is to take away all cash and force everybody to use some kind of card.
I am sure both you and I know what´s it all about. But we are getting there, I know because I´m swedish! Our gubmints are never embarrassed, they do as they please. On the other hand, I am at the time one step ahead;-)
There is one major difference between cash and credit cards is that cash leaves no trail, whereas every time we use a credit or debit card we leave a footprint for the gubmint to examine. I decide to buy myself a new television or laptop and they decide I have obviously too much cash to throw around and that it would be much better [and safer] in their hands.
How much longer before they just decide how much we need a week and just help themselves to the rest?
"How much longer before they just decide how much we need a week and just help themselves to the rest?"
Well, here in UK – until you require care in your dotage whereupon, unless they're taking your assets to pay for it, they'll take all your pension and give you the pocket money they think you need :/
I pretty much entirely agree with you Grandad. We are in thrall of parasite states, themselves subjects of supra-national masters. On the rare occasion that the plebs arrive at the wrong decision by some error in “democracy” they are made to vote again till the right answer is achieved. And the oligarchs and their minions and wannabes (when they are not simply lining their pockets or otherwise slobbering in the trough) believe that all they do is for *our good* – as with C S Lewis’ most oppressive tyranny.
And so many new laws, regulations and restrictions that one cannot hope not to transgress; one can only hope to stay under the ever-lowering radar.
Fucked, we are (doom, doom).