The government taketh and giveth away.
the government cannot give anything to anyone --- that they have not first taken away from someone else.
"The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third
grade this year. The presidential election was heating up and some of the
children showed an interest. I decided we would have an election for a class president.
We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote. To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members.
We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have. We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot.
The class had done a great job in their selections. Both candidates were good kids. I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support. I had never seen Olivia's mother.
The day arrived when they were to make their speeches. Jamie went first. He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place. He ended by promising to do his very best. Everyone applauded and he sat down.
Now it was Olivia's turn to speak. Her speech was concise. She said, "If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream." Then she sat down. The class went wild. "Yes! Yes! We want ice cream." She surely would say more, but she didn't have to.
A discussion followed. How did she plan to pay for the ice cream? She wasn't sure.Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it. She didn't know. The class really didn't care. All they were thinking about was ice cream.
Jamie was forgotten. Olivia won by a landslide.
Every time Barack Obama opened his mouth he offered ice cream and 52 percent of the people reacted like nine year olds. They want ice cream. The other 48 percent know they're going to have to feed the cow and clean up the mess."
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If I could stop buying my own ice cream, give up a much smaller amount of money and place it in a kitty with everyone else and then everyone could get ice creams (including myself and the people who initially couldn't afford ice creams), that actually sounds like a fantastic deal. 2
points
Yeah then Olivia could buy the ice cream in bulk and I pay less for my share than I would have by myself and not only that, but like xaeon said I could also help people get ice cream who didn't have any. Win/win situation. I love conservatives who assume they would be able to pay for their share of all the services they receive from the government by themselves. Why don't you calculate how much it would cost to have a company inspect all of your food, your cars, your water, keep a standing personal army, fire department, police station, buy your own roads, build your own airports and maintain security and traffic control, regulate and maintain quality of airplanes, send your kids to private school from kindergarten through college, monitor the spread of infectious diseases and respond with vaccinations and treatment so as to protect yourself et cetera. I'm sure I missed a ton of things, but this was what I could think of off the top of my head. The point is I don't think anyone could afford all of the things the government does themselves. The fact is things become cheaper when you purchase them collectively. Taxation and government spending are not a zero-sum situation. That is a participants gain or loss is not equally balanced by the respective loss and gain of another participant. Please stop making oversimplified immature arguments; they are childish. Side: No
1
point
I want the government to take out less taxes and provide less services. I do not need, nor do I want, some of the services provided by the government and I certainly don't want to pay for something I do not need nor want. What is so hard to understand about that? If you are so willing to give, then why not give to me? I mean, in your scenario you don't care who gets the services so why not me? Side: yes
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