Brokkr

While the game can be “addicting”, it is mostly because it is fun to play. Not all “addicting” forms of entertainment need elevated ratings because they are fun to consume. We don’t increase the ratings for binge worthy TV shows and we don’t restrict books if they are page turners, so why should we with a video game. At some point people need to regulate the use of their time themselves.

Article 1, sec. 8, clause 1: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; . . .

And the tenth amendment: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Such a law as you propose would be unconstitutional and the state government could not protects its citizens from the consequences that would come from withholding their taxes. While we’re talking about taxes here, the tenth amendment is also what protects citizens in deep red states from their oppressive state governments (despite their best efforts).

Your comment made me wonder what taxes the federal government collects from state governments. As far as I can tell, the IRS does not collect from state governments, but does collect from the residents and businesses of a state.

So while I agree that these states should fight back, I don’t think they have any payments that they could withhold. I hope they find a variety of other ways to fix this though.

It was rather difficult to understand the point of this essay. It doesn’t state its thesis until about the middle. The first half is a philosophical review of automation games, taking a detour to explain what the word automation could mean (why?) to eventually arrive at the conclusion that tech bros (incorrectly associating them with Silicon Valley, which is focused on hardware, not software) are bad. The reasoning for which seems to be largely an opinion stated as fact with the supporting evidence being that these games are unrealistic.

I found it difficult to engage with these ideas because the linkage between them is so incredibly stretched that it is hard to see the connection at all.