Has America slowly become a greedy entitlement culture, in which there is no longer any shame in taking from one's neighbors? Wish I had written this, by Harsanyi: If Washington Is So Great, Let's All Pay for It. One quote:
If, as the enlightened voices on the left contend, the American people deeply love their federal services, their dependency programs, their regulations, their industrious public education department, let's all pay. Why shouldn't we take on a proportionally fair share in the joy? Even income tax-paying Americans don't really feel the cost of government because of how we collect taxes. But let's create better consumers. Consumers pay and demand results. Dependents, on the other hand, just demand. They have no reason not to.
In my view, we are at a tipping point when half the country has become pure free-loaders, and many more have their favorite freebies. See Poll shows Americans oppose entitlement cuts to deal with debt problem. I am a flat-taxer. No personal deductions either. No business or corporate taxes, and no estate tax. (I also want means-testing for Social Security and Medicare, which is just one reason I am not in politics).
Think of how much money would be saved on lawyers, accountants and tax-planners. That money could be used productively - by us (not by the government).
Of course, if my American Vision were magically realized, the Left would just re-create the whole mess again. The vote-buying, the handouts, the deductions, etc.
Am I the only person who takes no freebies and wants no freebies from anybody else?
