As I previously stated, insurance is an optional service, taxation is not optional.
Of course taxes are optional. You can go live somewhere that you won't be taxed. A deserted island in the middle of the Pacific would do.
Not much of a choice, right? Same goes for insurance - you either have it and receive services that can save or improve your life at a price that won't send you immediately into bankruptcy (medical debt is the number one cause of personal bankruptcy in the US), or not.
We can keep getting absurd and say that oxygen is optional, if you like.
No argument on any of your points, none of those points counter anything I've stated. As I said previously, my only point in relation to the military and college funding is, it's a viable option for those seeking college funding....this making it more accessible. YES! The beneficiaries are largely paying their own way! They're adults, personal responsibility for one's own well being SHOULD be paid for largely on one's own! I do believe we're getting somewhere!
It's not an option that can absorb the vast and growing number of people who are otherwise being pushed out of secondary education due to costs, because the military is not going to grow to absorb those folks. It's not an option for people with disabilities. Due to the hostile work environment, I'd strongly advise any woman to think twice.
Not sure why you're patting yourself on the back about people paying their own way, because at no point in this discussion have I suggested otherwise. The problem isn't people paying, it's that the current price is distorted and completely untethered to fundamentals.
It would appear that what you mean is accepting the responsibilities that YOU deem appropriate to go along with them. I've agreed that people should accept the responsibilities that go along with them, as each person should do of their own free will rather than at the threat of punishment. In short, I don't get to decide what you deem as a social responsibility with what you own and the services you provide and you don't get to decide that for me with what I own and services I provide.
Actually, what you're presenting is the opposite, because you're suggesting that you should have full access to all of the benefits of society, but have the right to choose which responsibilities you accept, and which you can shirk. The social contract doesn't work that way. We don't get to pick and choose which rights and services you get to enjoy, and you don't get to choose which responsibilities you accept. It's a package deal. All, or nothing. A civilized society, or a deserted island.
The process of deciding "what you deem as a social responsibility with what you own and the services you provide" is called "representative Democracy."
