Or does anyone else have a problem with essentially being told there are limits to how prepared I can be for a situation?

I would like to think that it is up to me and my wherewithall as to how extravagantly I can equip myself for hard times. This idea that someone can just come and take whatever they want without so much as a by your leave really sticks in my craw. I put zero stock in remuneration when things get better; what if they never get better? I equate this to legalized anarchy, or PHRASECENSOREDPOSTERSHOULDKNOWBETTER., take your pick. The bottom line is I am growing quite weary of being compelled to forfeit my life's blood to people who neither appreciate it nor deserve it. It is one thing to mention the need and solicit my aid, quite another to yoke me like a beast of burden and put the whip to my back.

I came to Baghdad precisely because someone said there was a need and asked me to come help. No one is going to force me to stay here any longer than I want to without blood being spilled. It may be mine, but by God they'll know there was a fight.

What if you own a home in Florida and you go out and get all the lumber to secure it as best as possible against the impending storm, only to have some government official tell you you'll have to give up half of it for the guy down the road who waited too long and now has none, because the official thinks that you can do an adequate job with half of what you have? I'd be telling him to go pound sand if it were me, whereas if the guy down the road came and asked me for some, I would likely give him something, even if it took me out of my comfort zone.

I dunno, maybe it's just cuz I'm getting short here, but my opinion is the government doesn't have the right to compel us to charity, anymore than they have the right to give away our treasury to the poor and unfortunate. They never had that right, and as far as I'm concerned, they still don't. What they are doing to us with FITW and FICA is called extortion in my book, and if I thought it would change anything, I'd call them on it, but they've gotten too big for one man to make a difference, so I pay my taxes and bide my time and do what I must to protect the interests of me and mine. They can take some of it, but they will never take it all.