Firefighters let house burn to the ground...

There is no constitutional obligation of the government to put out a fire.

Though, you said it right. Property rights, not property.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DKPMO


You guys are all missing a very important point - that man's constitutional rights to the protection of his personal property was violated, and the US Constitution trumps any city, county or state laws for that matter.

Government only exists to protect our property rights, and our lives from encroachment by others. Every law we have on the books is based on these tenets.

Nope.

Campaign For Liberty — Does the Constitution Protect Our Property?    by Tom Mullen
 
You guys are all missing a very important point - that man's constitutional rights to the protection of his personal property was violated, and the US Constitution trumps any city, county or state laws for that matter.

Government only exists to protect our property rights, and our lives from encroachment by others. Every law we have on the books is based on these tenets.

Nobody stole his property. The Constitution protects property from theft(by criminals or the government); they're not obligated to put out a fire if you're retarded enough to start one.
 
That's a huge headache if the farmer defaults on payments.

And it's a huge headache for our healthcare and hospital system when people default on their bills, but private healthcare systems aren't bankrupt yet...
Well health insurance is different because you're dealing with human life as opposed to a material possession. You can buy/rent another place to live.
What if somebody was trapped in the building, or the building put human life in danger? Is that covered, even if the fee was not paid? Should they wait until the people are injured, and then have our healthcare system shoulder the cost of recovery?

I'm sure police protection is included in the residents' taxes, even if fire is not. If an arsonist sets a building on fire, the cops would be obligated to try and find/arrest said arsonist, but would the fire then be put out, since it was the result of a crime?

No matter what stance you take in politics, most people seem to agree that there are certain essential services that should be provided by the government (we're not all anarchists, are we?). This rural town/county of people decided that an average of $75/year of forced tax increases (or probably less per person, with everyone having a forced opt-in to make up for revenue loss by choice... or forced rebill for us marketers) wasn't worth it for fire protection, so it became voluntary. People bitch when they're forced to pay for a Government service they don't think they'll get use out of, and then the same people bitch when they don't receive a benefit because they bitched about paying more to the Government. Welcome to typical politics in America.

Should the fire have been put out once the homeowner offered to pay costs? Absolutely. Make the homeowner sign a contract agreeing to pay for the costs. If they don't get paid after that, then call in the lawyers and collection agents. That's the risk that the Government already takes with charging taxes (tax evaders that the Government spends time/money to catch), affiliate networks take with fronting payouts, and any business with accounts receivable takes. Why the fire department is any different is beyond me.
 
Think of all the money the city now collected. I bet every house paid their $75 now
 
You guys are all missing a very important point - that man's constitutional rights to the protection of his personal property was violated, and the US Constitution trumps any city, county or state laws for that matter.

Government only exists to protect our property rights, and our lives from encroachment by others. Every law we have on the books is based on these tenets.

There was no constitutional violation. Government didn't take his property, nor are they required to protect it.
 
There is no constitutional obligation of the government to put out a fire.

Though, you said it right. Property rights, not property.


Nobody stole his property. The Constitution protects property from theft(by criminals or the government); they're not obligated to put out a fire if you're retarded enough to start one.

There was no constitutional violation. Government didn't take his property, nor are they required to protect it.

I'll throw this quote back in here since you guys may not have seen it:

"The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property." (John Locke - Second Treatise on Civil Government)

Nobody can discount the influence that Locke had on the Constitution - it wasn't brought down from the heavens. Much of what went into the making of our Constitution can be traced back to Locke's theories on society. To discount Locke, is to discount our Constitution. If putting out a fire isn't preservation of property then what is it?
 
I didnt read the whole thing and im a litle tpsy. But WTF? are you fuckn serious. Does this shit mean that even though I pay taxes that I have to pay fopr a fuckingfireman to show upo also. So when and wherew do I send the check so ethe fuck cops will show up? Gunm,an is right if we have top pay for civel servcices like a fucking insurabce then fuck all to giovment.
 
The farmer offered to pay the ENTIRE fee for whatever it cost to put out the fire...not simply pay the $75 he owed.

Same way it works with health insurance...if you decide not to buy it, but then come down with the plague they will let you cover the entire cost in order to save your life.

If someone was withering away, and said I will pay the entire $300,000 medical bill that coincides with saving my life even though I do not have health insurance.

Do you really think doctors would just pull the plug?

That is the major difference here.

One you're paying for a service, the other you're paying for insurance. Health Insurance will cover your "service fee" from the hospital if you pre pay monthly. Where as the insurance company will not pay for that service if you have not already paid. Now you can go pay that service fee directly to the hospital and directly skip the health insurance company.

It happens that where he lives, does not have a local fire dept, and probably not even a police dept. They contract them out, and if you're not willing to pay for that "insurance" then you can go hire your own for your protection when it happens, similar to just going to the hospital and paying the 300k.

I didnt read the whole thing and im a litle tpsy. But WTF? are you fuckn serious. Does this shit mean that even though I pay taxes that I have to pay fopr a fuckingfireman to show upo also. So when and wherew do I send the check so ethe fuck cops will show up? Gunm,an is right if we have top pay for civel servcices like a fucking insurabce then fuck all to giovment.

Not sure if serious...but...


And for those who say "that's what taxes are for"...you're probably complaining about the price of taxes too, where this county decided it's up to you if you want to use their fire dept services, and made taxes $75 cheaper, with the option to get the fire protection.

It's a pretty simple concept and the only person that was at fault and should have anything against him is the home owner. It sucks that his house burnt down, but 100% his fault. More than likely he won't make that mistake again.
 
I'll throw this quote back in here since you guys may not have seen it:

"The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property." (John Locke - Second Treatise on Civil Government)

Nobody can discount the influence that Locke had on the Constitution - it wasn't brought down from the heavens. Much of what went into the making of our Constitution can be traced back to Locke's theories on society. To discount Locke, is to discount our Constitution. If putting out a fire isn't preservation of property then what is it?

I'm surprised you took this approach. Your last paragraph contains at least two fallacies that trip up your argument. But, I'm not going down this rabbit hole. Better minds than mine have tried, and wasted precious time doing it.
 
oh well if he has insurance it would have been ok I guess... at least he could have had a nice camp fire with the neighbours... have a camp fire, have a few marshmellows and talk about the good times you had while you watched it burn... call the insurance company and go from there...
 
OMG... I wish those firefighters get their ass sued, lose all their properties, get into jail and their wives go with their neighbors (yes, with all of them!!)...

think about this guy seeing his house becoming ashes...

So sad.
 
This is a weird story, since you'd assume his taxes would cover it. But this only speaks for less government involvement and total privatization.

Imagine if he could just call up a private firefighting company. They would be there immediately, charge less, and save his house.

This story only promotes the belief that we need pure capitalism. Instead the government has a monopoly on certain services, and as we can see, that can sometimes prove incredibly destructive.

bullshit

you know how much that would cost?

you know, given that you're now advocating for a per use fee to cover the training/operating costs/salaries of all firefighters who usually stand idly by given that fires are a rarity.

what if you call them up and they say "sure- we can save your house, it's gonna be $26,000 and we're gonna need 10% up front?"

You know, like hospitals do even if you HAVE insurance and need an expensive surgery.

This feeling of bravado goes down REAL quick when you fall short of anything but the 35% tax bracket and realize, like "Joe the plumber" that you can't actually afford shit despite all the big talk of free market this and capitalism or death that.
 
I'll throw this quote back in here since you guys may not have seen it:

"The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property." (John Locke - Second Treatise on Civil Government)

Nobody can discount the influence that Locke had on the Constitution - it wasn't brought down from the heavens. Much of what went into the making of our Constitution can be traced back to Locke's theories on society. To discount Locke, is to discount our Constitution. If putting out a fire isn't preservation of property then what is it?
Something tells me Locke was talking about random people taking away your property. If your family is stupid enough to set your house on fire, that's your problem.
 
Think of all the money the city now collected. I bet every house paid their $75 now

For some reason I keep thinking about the Mob. This was Capone beating the shit out of that guy with a bat. You bet your ass everyone is now in queue to pay their 75 bucks.
 
Something tells me Locke was talking about random people taking away your property.

Really? What are you basing that on?

Preservation of your property is very clear - it means at the end of the day, the role of Government is to ensure that your property is preserved. Letting a house burn to the ground is not that. Also - Tennessee has a sales tax (a big one too), including a county sales tax that the farmer was assessed anytime he purchased anything in his county. What are those funds used for? Shouldn't preservation of your life and property be #1 and #2 on that list? What do those taxes cover - does anyone even know? It's not like the guy isn't paying taxes, so why wouldn't it be the role of the county or state government to pay the fee for the residents to ensure the protection is offered, rather than leave it up to a vote on what would just appear to be a money grab by politicians. The funds are already being collected on sales tax - use it.