The sovereign citizen movement rejects the legitimacy of the government. Its fast-growing popularity has had authorities scrambling to get a handle on how far its tentacles have reached.

Unfortunately, Mr Oxby was persuaded by this theory during the seminar, which I infer from his evidence, was presented in a persuasive and charismatic manner."

He was ultimately fined $14,000.

  • goodthanks@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    It’s not a willingness of all people to pay those exorbitant amounts, they don’t have a choice. I was hit by a car a few years ago and had to have ankle surgery and metal plates installed. I’ve also had to have hand surgery for a broken metacarpal. I didn’t pay anything for those surgeries. It was provided on the public dime, which is not a significant hit to my pay check in terms of income tax. If I lived in the states, I would be in massive debt. I have private health care since I work for an American company, but I didn’t even need it for life saving healthcare since I live in a country which still has some semblance of universal care for low and medium income citizens.

    • shortwavesurfer@monero.town
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      5 months ago

      Well, unless you’re going to be thrown into jail for not paying a debt, you actually don’t have to pay it. Especially if the costs are not disclosed beforehand and are exorbitant. Enough people do that and market forces will prevail.

      • goodthanks@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Look, I’m not going to argue with you on this anymore since you seem to be fairly dead set on this idea of private industry and market forces being superior, which they are demonstrably not. The overarching point is that basic human needs like health care, aged care etc. should not have a profit incentive. The only way to remedy that is to invest properly in government services and also hold the political class to account when those services are not adequately delivered.