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A Tax on E-Mail? A Pox on Them!
North Miami Beach, FL June 23, 2001 Aaron H.
Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on issues, ideas and reflections on the times. Published now and
then, Opinions pro or con are welcome.
A TAX ON E-MAIL? A POX ON THEM!
I was casting about looking for a topic on which to write this morning.
And, lo and behold a gift idea came through on my e-mail. Hope, from our
water aerobics class, forwarded this message about proposals to charge for
each e-mail sent or received. I am not sure of the details but I am sure
that there are many different proposals out there to tap the Internet as a
source for income.
When my representatives in Congress start this kind of activity I know
there is neither intelligence nor goodness in their hearts. Some of our
elected officials can hardly wait to put pet schemes into action. They know
that special interests they favor would just love to control something that
has been out of control since its inception. The key idea here is
suppression of free speech.
One remark I read spoke to the "democratic" nature of the Internet. If
democracy is in danger of being altered by some form of governmental
suppression then I am automatically against it. Our present government is
not necessarily representative of my wishes and is not necessarily a truly
representative government since it was put in place by a Supreme Court
decision and Supreme Court Justices are not elected either. This is not
about appointing or electing judges. I prefer the present method. This is
about the naked fear of unregulated messages being sent over wireless
connections that have so seized the imagination of millions of thinkers who
formerly would have been stifled by the slow pace of "snail mail".
I like to pay taxes. I consider it to be one of my freedoms - along with
my right to representation by those I vote for. I cannot accept proposals
to limit my voice and my contact with literally the whole world.
Let us look at this way. I own an impressive amount of hardware and have
paid excessively for the software that energizes all my machines. In paying
for these toys I have paid enough taxes already. Anything more is excessive
and repressive. What do you think?
Carol's Evaluation:10 out of 10.
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