[ExI] rugged individualists

Damien Broderick thespike at satx.rr.com
Wed Jul 13 02:15:27 UTC 2011


On 7/12/2011 7:56 PM, GLivick wrote:

> Tax credits for dependents is government aide?  Insurance that the
> government requires us to purchase from them is aide when it pays out?
> Medicare is insurance, Social Security is insurance. FOOD STAMPS are
> aide!! Couched in the words of the leftists, federal student loans,
> which are actually only guarantees, are bailouts, not aide.

==========================

You'll notice that while the headline I quoted uses the term "aid" 
(which I immediately rejected, since many of the examples cited are 
enforced *insurance*), the question used in the poll specified "social 
programs."

>> Half of Americans Who Get Govt Aid Say They Don’t
>> KRISTINA CHEW
>>
>> <Half of Americans who receive government aid in the form of social
>> services believe that they have not 'used a government social
>> program.”

Many other examples of social programs could have been cited: roads, 
public lighting, public hospitals (whatever they're called here), 
policing, sewage provided by the city or State, etc etc. Then there's 
all the military expenditure, from which most people gain at least some 
return they value ("The oil must flow!" "Slay the terrorists!" and so on).

As I quoted:

"We’re on the verge of forgetting (if we haven’t already) that our 
government isn’t just taking our tax dollars for 'its own' purposes. 
'Its own' purposes are ours - we just prefer not to remember until we’re 
really in need."

Rugged individuals might claim (with whatever degree of honesty and 
consistency) that they don't get these services as efficiently and 
cheaply as they might if left each to his or her own devices, and 
without a boot stamping on a human face forever--but they ought not 
claim that they "have not used a government social program.”

Damien Broderick



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