01-09-2017, 12:33 PM
(01-09-2017, 11:38 AM)Benton Wrote: I don't know if it's always been, or if it's just a recent thing, but one of the issues America struggles with is the importance of "my free stuff" versus "your free stuff."
Much of the "free" stuff people agree on (at least to a degree). Most people want some kind of military, police, roads, basic education, fire protection.
But there's a lot of other ones people can't agree on. Free or reduced college? Healthcare? Using the military as a global distribution network? Birth control? Race horses?
Some people think nothing of giving tax money to operate a theme park, but some get up in arms over giving condoms to teenagers.
The issue, at least to me, is that most people don't really understand how it all works. Government can be as transparent as we like, but people just don't understand how money flows from their pockets into the pockets of others in the various ways. They don't understand the bureaucracy, which is understandable for the most part, but there is a lack of basic knowledge of public administration and policies that leads people to not have a realistic understanding of where their tax money actually goes.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
