Let’s Digress About Feel-Good Social Media Posts
I saw this circulating the social medias the other day. A lot of people seemed to agree with it. Personally, I do not. Well, not entirely, but kind of. Let me explain:
- I don’t want free health care. I want my taxes to pay for health care, not war or violence.
I don’t want free healthcare, either. I also don’t want my taxes paying for everyone’s healthcare. Interestingly enough, from my current understanding of the Founding Documents, Section 8 of the Constitution says, “…collect taxes…to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and welfare of the United States…”
One could argue that the “welfare” word may imply healthcare, but the part I’m referring to is the “common defense,” i.e., war and violence. I definitely want my taxes to pay for that.
I’m generally a small-government kind of guy, and in my opinion, the government should be involved in my life as little as possible. Of the few things I want that government to do (and to do incredibly well) are war and violence. I want the military to be excellent at going in and breaking things. Really, if there was a checkbox on my tax forms where I could designate where I wanted my tax money to go to, it would be for war and violence.
I also think there should be a safety net with healthcare for those who legitimately can’t afford it, but not in the “free healthcare for everyone because everyone’s taxes pay for it” kind of way.
I’m quite fond of the idea of consensually giving money to people in need of financial assistance, going to one’s community for help, or going to organizations that assist in taking care of healthcare situations, like St. Jude, Medi-Share, or any of the other numerous organizations that provide those services.
I do not think the government giving everyone healthcare at the expense of raising my taxes should be the first stop to get healthcare. The government should be the last stop if all of the other options have been exhausted. And even then, I’m still only referring to those who legitimately need it, which is not the majority of people.
- I don’t want money for nothing. I want the opportunity for a good job that pays for at least my basic needs.
I agree with this statement. I shall elaborate: The operative word is “opportunity.” Opportunity means that we might not get the job because the employer gave it to someone more qualified or someone they liked more, and that’s wonderful! Businesses should want to employ the best people they can get, and oftentimes there will always be someone better, more qualified, or a better fit for the business than we are.
Also, it is not our employer’s role to pay for our “basic needs.” That’s our role. Their role is only to pay us the money we’re owed based on the agreed-upon rate that we earned for the number of hours we worked.
Let me rephrase it another way: It’s your job to pay for your needs. If you don’t make enough money at your current job to pay for your lifestyle, then you either need to change your lifestyle, work more hours, find an additional job, or find a different job entirely. That isn’t your employer’s problem; that’s a you problem.
Ownership and responsibility. It’s an enlightening concept.
- I don’t expect every election to bring the results I want. I just want my vote to count.
This is reasonable. And until I have evidence to prove otherwise, every vote does count. So, go vote!
- I don’t want businesses to be unprofitable. I want them to stay out of the regulatory and political process.
I want businesses to be über profitable, too! And I also want them to stay out of the political process and out of the regulatory state. In addition to that, I would like for the regulatory state to shrink and become more privatized because it’s just too big and the federal government was never intended to have that much power.
And while I’m adding things to my capitalistic wish list, I would like for businesses to stop fiddling with my entertainment by adding left-leaning political agenda sub-messaging that doesn’t do anything to better the plot (e.g., Frozen, Zootopia, Another Life, Designated Survivor, Black Panther, most of the comedy specials on Netflix, that fathier (dog/horse animal) casino escape scene on Canto Bight in Star Wars Episode VIII).
- I don’t want the wealthy to pay for everything. I want them to pay their fair share.
I couldn’t agree more with this one, especially since “fair share” means “the same as everyone else.” This sounds like an excellent argument for a flat-tax rate. Oh yes, the same tax rate for everyone.
Why should someone have to pay more of the money they’ve earned to the government just because they earned more than someone else? That’s basically penalizing people for being productive, successful, and working hard. Forcing the wealthy to pay a higher tax rate just because they have more money and made good life choices is morally abhorrent.
Ridiculously high tax rates for high-income earners also provides excellent motivation for people to not work hard, make money, and be successful. Seriously, why would anyone want to work hard and make tons of money when it pays better with legitimately no work to just live off the welfare state?
- I don’t want open borders. I want a path to citizenship for Dreamers and realistic immigration laws that are dignified, humane and fair.
Holy cow! I agree with this one too! Strong borders are absolutely important and we need to enforce and improve our current immigration laws, which, from my understanding, are dignified, humane, and fair.
This is especially true if you compare U.S. immigration law to most other countries that aren’t westernized. If you would happen to wander into some of those non-westernized countries illegally, you’re likely to become maimed, dismembered, and/or dead, along with a myriad of other unfortunate events.
Thought exercise time! Look at Saudi Arabia as an example: Up until the past few years, Saudi women weren’t allowed to drive. They’re just now starting to lighten up on some of those archaic and backward ideas. So, if that’s how they treat their citizens, how well can we expect them to treat people who illegally jump their borders and come into their country?
If you ask me, United States immigration law sounds pretty swell, comparatively speaking.