On constipated thinking.
Bonus points if you know where that term comes from. It describes a thought process which is stuck in limbo due to lack of fact and reason. Like, most every suggestion made by your average liberal.
A good example of it can be found in the comments attached to this post by Moxie.
(And no, I'm not calling Mox a liberal.)
The post deals with the stupidity of Davis' car tax increase in California, and methods to address it. Out of jest (I hope), Moxie suggested taxing luxury items such as breast implants and those naughty SUV's.
I won't get into the issue that California's problem is that it needs to cut spending and not increase taxes, but I will get into the SUV thing, as it pisses me off. Now, for the record, I don't own a SUV and never have. I'm a sports car guy, first and foremost, but I have owned a few beefy trucks for hunting and/or general mud slinging purposes. One day, when time and expendable funds permit, I may just get a 4Runner and stick a 7M-GTE Supra engine in it so that I can have my cake and eat it too, a "utility" vehicle with lots of space, which also happens to be able to do 200 mph.
But the point is, that's my choice. Just as it's my choice to drive a turbocharged sports car that gets fifteen miles per gallon on a good day with a tail wind. Should I make the choice to get a SUV in future, then it'll be my responsibility to pay for the fuel, insurance, and anything else required.
But some people don't like my choice, because of "maybe" and "what if" arguments like the damage a SUV can cause in an accident, or the extra fuel they consume compared to an econo-box car, or a dozen other brain dead things.
Well, too flipping bad. It's my choice, not yours, and to hell with your opinion that I should be taxed in a punitive sense because you disagree with my right to drive whatever the hell I want to drive. Should I happen to run over a Civic full of foreign exchange students, then it's my responsibility to accept the consequences of that act.
Oh, but SUV's are so big, it's easier for people in small cars to get hurt in accidents!
Really. Well then, I guess we should ban and/or tax the hell out of anything larger than a Honda Civic. Okay, let's put a 300 percent tax on buses, and the same again on semi tractors, construction trucks, pickups, and trains. Why, just think of how safe our roads will be!
Yeah, and also think about how much fun it'll be to pay $20 bucks to get across town by bus, and pay 50-100% more on anything you purchase in a store due to the skyrocketing costs imposed shipping companies. What, you think all that tasty grocery store food and spiffy new electronics just magically appear? No, it's hauled by bigass trucks.
I'd like to address anyone who thinks more taxes on anything are a good idea to head on over here and refer to steps 7 and 8 of my escaping liberalism plan.
Step 7: The government is inefficient.
If you are one of those liberals who believe the government should tax us more in order to take care of society, you need to pay special attention to this step. You need to realize that government bureaucracy will waste most of your tax dollars, while the private sector will put your money to much better use. Even most Democrat politicians understand this to some degree, which is why Hillary's socialist healthcare proposal was voted down by a majority of both Democrats and Republicans. Go to your local post office or call the IRS to ask a tax question if you need a reminder about government inefficiency.
Step 8: The earth is not your "mother", and she's not dying.
The time has now come to stop your donations to Greenpeace, The Sierra Club, and every other EnviroNazi organization to which you belong. Face the reality that the earth, society and our environment are better off today than ever in recorded history and that they are continuing to improve. I realize that many of you tree huggers will have a very difficult time letting go of the Douglas Fir on this one. I would suggest reading The Skeptical Environmentalist by Bjorn Lomborg. Mr. Lomborg is a former member of Greenpeace and is currently a statistics professor at a university in Denmark. He set out to prove the world was in bad shape and ended up surprising himself by proving the exact opposite.