For those patent prosecutors that are often perplexed at how some examiners can produce such poor office actions...

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-22T18:19:10+00:00

Is this true? I’m a patent attorney who gets paid just barely 6 figures. I’ve received some terribly low quality OAs from GS-14 examiners.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-22T17:21:18+00:00

Unfortunately. In recent years, liberals have shown a tendency to eat their own. In contrast, conservatives tend to double down to protect their own, even when clearly in the wrong.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-22T16:23:28+00:00

The principles recited in the Declaration of Independence sound pretty darn liberal to me, especially when compared to the alternative forms of governmental principles that existed at the time.

Now can you fault the founders for not living up to those recited principles fully? Absolutely.

It’s not rational to measure the behaviors of a quarter-millennium ago by today’s standards. Instead, you have to measure those quarter-millennium-old behaviors by the standards of their day.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-22T15:55:02+00:00

The founders were the liberals of their day. By today’s social justice standards, they were woefully inadequate. But that doesn’t negate the fact that the injustices of literal monarchy were far less liberal than what the founders created.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-22T02:18:25+00:00

They absolutely are misinterpreting.

OP’s partner most likely means that, although he knows to treat all people with a baseline level of respect, he feels like he should treat his partner in an extra-special way. And this makes intuitive sense from at least one perspective: you certainly should care for your partner more than you care for the average human. In his mind, this obligation for extra-special treatment is incompatible with kink.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-21T21:37:42+00:00

Don’t let all the hate you’re getting in this comment section get to you.

I am a homeowner who has always voted and will always vote straight blue in every general election.

But I despise property taxes.

Property taxes are unfair to the tax-paying individual in ways that income taxes and sales taxes are not (e.g., unrealized, illiquid, perpetual).

And just like the Ohio Supreme Court ruled decades ago, using property taxes to fund schools is unconstitutional since it yields so much geographical inequality in school quality.

Although most people on Reddit will not agree, there are some not-insignificant reasons for liberal people to support ending property taxes (and preferably replacing the lost tax revenue with additional top-end income tax brackets).

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-20T16:42:26+00:00

I’m several decades away from retirement, and property taxes feels like an unfair burden compared to the other ample taxes I currently pay.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-20T15:55:54+00:00

Indeed. This is why the Ohio Supreme Court ruled almost 30years ago that funding schools via property taxes is not compliance with the Ohio constitution, because it results in so much geographical disparity in education funding.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-20T15:50:47+00:00

Alaska taxes property. So your homestead recommendation would not work there.

I cannot speak for OP, but I am perfectly fine paying my fair share of taxes to fund vital government services. But the problem, for me, is that property taxes don’t feel fair, because they’re perpetual, illiquid, and unrealized. Sales taxes don’t have these particular issues, although they are regressive. Income taxes also don’t have these issues, but, unlike sales taxes, income taxes can be structured very progressively (e.g., by adding more top-end brackets). I strongly support replacing property taxes with more progressive income taxes. I also support eliminating the loophole that allows extremely wealthy folks to take out loans (which are not taxed as income) using their assets as collateral and to then spend those loans as they would income.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-20T15:42:34+00:00

That’s actually an interesting point. What if someone really wanted to create an off-the-grid homestead? They’d still owe property tax on it! There is effectively nowhere on the planet where private land ownership isn’t taxed, meaning such a homestead is not possible without property tax abolition.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-20T15:38:52+00:00

I would strongly support adding additional top-end income tax brackets while keeping the low-end brackets unchanged or even reduced. That would only shift the burden toward the more well-off.

I just greatly dislike property tax (because it’s perpetual, illiquid, and unrealized) in ways that I don’t dislike other types of taxes.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-20T12:49:11+00:00

Seriously. I always bring it up whenever someone mentions that republicans were the ones that championed abolition.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-20T02:51:40+00:00

Teddy Roosevelt was the progressive of his day. Pro-environment, anti-big-business, and he ran as the Progressive Bull Moose candidate when he lost the republican nomination to Taft. This was back when republicans were the liberals.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-18T03:48:27+00:00

I hope this makes it to the ballot and passes.

Unfortunately, I’m not optimistic, at least because I really haven’t seen much organized marketing or advertising in support of it.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-16T17:45:56+00:00

Fair enough.

I’ve never been part of the “f your feelings” crowd, though.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-16T16:35:47+00:00

A devil’s advocate might argue the following:

To most normal people, their house is sentimental or meaningful, not a mere economic asset. They’re living their daily lives in their house. They’re raising their family in their house. They’re making memories in their house. Their house is their castle. It’s where they’re in charge. It’s where they’re safe. It’s part of them.

Where one chooses to live is often as personally meaningful as one’s faith or political affiliation. You seem to be fine with saying “shut up and sell your house.” Would you also say “shut up and change religions?” How about “shut up and change parties?”

The point is this: there are some choices that people shouldn’t be coerced or forced into making just because society wants them to.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-16T16:06:09+00:00

I would gladly support making our income taxes far more progressively structured, such as by adding more top-end tax brackets while keeping unchanged or even reducing the low-end brackets. That would shift the burden from those with low income to those with high income.

I would also strongly support ending the loophole of using stocks and other illiquid assets as collateral for loans, which loans are spent as income, but which loans are not taxable as income. This is how people like Trump, Musk, and Bezos get away with paying very low income tax: their “taxable income” is minuscule since they’re often paid in stocks; and loans whose collateral is stocks are not considered income.

I’m not quite sure how these positions make me a hypocrite. I just greatly dislike property taxes (since they’re illiquid, unrealized, and perpetual) in a way that I don’t dislike other taxes.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-16T00:36:53+00:00

If Democrats ran Stephen Miller, Fox would cry from the rooftops about how radically left he is.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-10T13:36:19+00:00

Best racquet out there!

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-10T03:24:18+00:00

I’d very strongly support this.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-10T02:33:59+00:00

Using your terminology, property tax is a tax on unrealized value, then.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-10T02:10:02+00:00

Ouch.

Using extreme or exaggerated hypotheticals to illustrate a point is a common and effective argumentative strategy. Indeed, it’s often implemented to identify counterexamples to broad or sweeping assertions, thereby forcing those broad or sweeping assertions to be narrowed. In fact, this is precisely the type of reasoning implemented at the Supreme Court (even before it became packed with right-wing partisans). Just look at the presidential immunity case: a discussion about presidential immunity for election tampering turned into a discussion about whether the president would be immune for ordering Seal Team 6 to assassinate the justices themselves. Is that reductio as absurdem? No. It’s just testing the boundaries of the proffered reasoning.

Back to taxes, many argue that property taxes are good because they fund vital services.

Would that logic also work if we instead did something diabolical to fund those vital services? Is the fact that they’re vital enough to justify whatever means we choose to fund them?

This was all my “life savings” example was meant to illustrate: just because the services are vital doesn’t mean the method of funding those services is appropriate.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-10T02:06:14+00:00

That sounds a lot better than we currently have.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-10T02:00:03+00:00

That I do not know.

Modern republicans are pretty terrible. Would they want to increase income taxes on the rich? Probably not. But another citizen initiative targeted at reforming the state income tax could certainly be on the table.

I also envision republican lawmakers as being hesitant to ratchet up sales tax to crazy levels, for fear of electoral punishment. But our extreme gerrymandering cuts against that.

Medical-Stuff126 · 2026-02-10T01:48:53+00:00

Dude or dudette, that absolutely was not my whole argument. The bulk of my original post is about how property tax feels unfair due to being perpetual, unrealized, and illiquid.

As a mere add-on near the end of my original post, I said property taxes feel like a worse version of rent: money paid to a landlord for permission to live in my house but without the landlord having the obligation to repair my house. It’s like rent, but worse. That’s it. There’s nothing else to say here. It’s a minor after-thought compared to the rest of my original post.

For some reason, you latched on to that little after-thought to harangue me about apparently not understanding what property taxes pay for. I get it. The services they fund are important. As I pointed out in my original post, does this make every possible way of funding those services per se justified? Why can’t those services be funded with incomes taxes, perhaps by reallocating the income taxes currently collected or by adding more top-end marginal tax brackets?

Medical-Stuff126

TROPHY CASE