{"id":4137,"date":"2013-04-11T20:29:56","date_gmt":"2013-04-12T01:29:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/?p=4137"},"modified":"2013-04-11T20:29:56","modified_gmt":"2013-04-12T01:29:56","slug":"some-analogies-are-are-like-propositions-that-arent-true","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/?p=4137","title":{"rendered":"Some analogies are are like propositions that aren’t true"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes when you make an analogy, you really just show how little you understand. Or, perhaps, how little you want to.\u00c2\u00a0 Charles Cooke at NRO<\/a> thinks that taxing ammunition at a higher rate, perhaps at 50%, is not just bad economic policy, but is an infringement on basic rights.\u00c2\u00a0 He makes this point with an analogy.<\/p>\n

When it comes to our basic rights, the rule of thumb is that as little as possible should be put in the way of their exercise. The Second Amendment is often treated differently from the other component parts of the Bill of Rights, but it damn well shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be. Unless you consider that the right to bear arms is less important in a republic than is the right to vote<\/strong> \u00e2\u20ac\u201d which I most decidedly do not<\/i><\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201d then putting a special tax on firearms is no less outrageous than putting a tax on voting<\/strong>. Why one but not the other?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Notice, first, that this is an argument that, as we say in philosophy, proves too much<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 If we’re really to take the conclusion seriously, then it should be that we shouldn’t tax gun or ammunition purchases at all.\u00c2\u00a0 If there’s no taxing voting, then there’s no taxing guns and gun-related stuff.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 His argument isn’t one that proves that we shouldn’t tax ammo at a high rate, it’s that we shouldn’t tax it at all.<\/p>\n

Second, notice that Cooke thinks that gun-rights are more important than voting rights.\u00c2\u00a0 I wonder what he thinks of Canada.\u00c2\u00a0 A real democracy? Germany or England?\u00c2\u00a0 If you click his link, there’s a paywall for the whole article — but he does answer one question.\u00c2\u00a0 With another question.\u00c2\u00a0 To the challenge why does he need military style firearms?\u00c2\u00a0 His reply is:<\/p>\n

A better question: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t you want me to have one?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yep.\u00c2\u00a0 His argument is pretty much that his possession of a firearm ensures that his voting rights can’t be taken away.\u00c2\u00a0 Seriously, though, who’s he gonna shoot if his voter registration card doesn’t get recognized at the polling station?<\/p>\n

Third, and finally, isn’t the difference between voting and buying guns and bullets is that with the latter, you’re purchasing a product?\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a financial exchange of goods and money, one that the government can tax as necessary.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not that the argument by analogy proves too much, it’s that the analogy isn’t appropriately framed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes when you make an analogy, you really just show how little you understand. Or, perhaps, how little you want to.\u00c2\u00a0 Charles Cooke at NRO thinks that taxing ammunition at a higher rate, perhaps at 50%, is not just bad economic policy, but is an infringement on basic rights.\u00c2\u00a0 He makes this point with an … Continue reading Some analogies are are like propositions that aren’t true<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[732,916],"class_list":["post-4137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weak-analogy","tag-argument-by-analogy","tag-gun-control"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4137"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4138,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137\/revisions\/4138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenonsequitur.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}