ziggy29
Moderator Emeritus
Well said, and that's really what I was trying to say before. I don't say it in a knee-jerk anti-government way, but overall I think the government is taking more from me than I am receiving in benefit. I'm not complaining about that, because there are good reasons for that in many cases (I don't need some of the assistance that the needy/deserving poor do, for example)...but I'm also not going to be grateful if they give me back a handful of Doritos after they previously took a full bag from me. They are just giving me back a small amount of what they took from me before.I'll repeat here, so no one takes the above out of context: I'm OK with govt programs that fill a gap that private business/charities cannot. I'm OK with social programs for the truly needy, and things that help people get a step up and improve themselves - I think we ALL benefit from that, even if indirectly. I'm against the smoke-and-mirrors of taking $2 from me, and giving me back $1 and calling it a 'benefit' that helped me ER.
And that's okay; I accept that's the way government works and that there's a price to pay for a social safety net -- but it's no reason for me to feel like they are doing me a favor.