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General Discussion Area / Re: Lib Dem nut-jobs
« on: 16 August 2012, 12:28:56 »Go on then I'll stick my neck out again just for a change.
Q1 What is so wrong with taxing carbonated drinks?//.....
Q2 .......// UK speed limits//.....
Yes this is the feature of many of these Liberal/Democrat ideas; they appear to be quite reasonable - in the absence of any in-depth analysis, that is.
A couple of thoughts on question 1;
Many would indeed think this to be a reasonable idea however, in the real world, how would this be implemented without introducing a tax rise so unpalatable that the purchase of these drinks all but impossible in the financial sense. And if this were not the case, would not any modest tax rise simply be accepted by those addicted to such beverages?
In addition, how much additional bureaucracy would be needed to account for this new tax band – and, should it be considered to be a success (in the warped minds of those who championed its cause), what is the likelihood that similar moves would be made to discourage the use of other substances considered to be injurious to health or contrary to political doctrine.
And on question 2;
Many drivers do not adhere to the presently established speed restrictions – even in the face of cameras, monetary fines and penalty points – so how likely is it that they will obey this reduced limit?
To try to make this work, surely the installation of a much enhanced surveillance network would be necessary in an attempt to police the new regulation – this again raises the question of additional bureaucracy, furthermore, what do you do when people carry on regardless, much as they do at the moment when driving in existing speed regulated areas?
No, when one looks closely at such ideas from most of these groups who like to consider themselves to be ‘enlightened social democrats’ one can easily see that to implement them measures would need to be adopted that would be anything but democratic or liberal in substance and may well be downright oppressive in practice.
