Tax Day: The Real April Fools' Day @ Ales Rarus

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random thought of the moment:

It is time again to resurrect the wise and marvelous quote from Canon Sydney Smith, the great classical liberal and anti-interventionist in early nineteenth century England. When Lord Grey, the Prime Minister, was moving toward a foreign war, Sydney Smith wrote the following letter to Lady Grey, in 1832: ‘For God’s sake, do not drag me into another war! I am worn down, and worn out, with crusading and defending Europe, and protecting mankind; I must think a little of myself. I am sorry for the Spaniards - I am sorry for the Greeks - I deplore the fate of the Jews; the people of the Sandwich Islands are groaning under the most detestable tyranny; Baghdad is oppressed, I do not like the present state of the Delta; Tibet is not comfortable. Am I to fight for all these people? The world is bursting with sin and sorrow. Am I to be champion of the Decalogue, and to be eternally raising fleets and armies to make all men good and happy? We have just done saving Europe, and I am afraid the consequence will be, that we shall cut each other’s throats. No war, dear Lady Grey! - No eloquence; but apathy, selfishness, common sense, arithmetic! I beseech you, secure Lord Grey’s swords and pistols, as the housekeeper did Don Quixote’s armour. If there is another war, life will not be worth having.’ — Murray N. Rothbard

Tax Day: The Real April Fools' Day

April 15th, 2008 by Funky Dung

This afternoon I participated in a small protest of the income tax. We met at the Hilton downtown and walked to the Federal building. Alone the way we chanted, "Income tax is theft! End the IRS!" I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who took pamphlets from us. I'm sure most ended up in the garbage, but I'm hopeful that some of them were actually read. I'm hoping we changed at least one person's mind today.

The most fulfilling part of the event was meeting and conversing with more Ron Paul Meetup members. There's quite a variety of opinions in the group, which makes for lively debates. The worst part occurred after we moved from the Federal building to the Omni William Penn hotel, where John McCain was having a fundraiser. Most of us stayed across the street from the hotel, but a few picketed right in front of the entrance. I wasn't comfortable doing that, but I didn't have a big problem with others being there. What I did and do object to is picking a fight, which I believe one of the group was trying to do. He was hoping one of the hotel staff would bump into him, and when one did he made a scene. Thankfully, a cooler-headed protester diffused the situation with polite banter.