Why you should care about others.
I read an article this morning that basically came off sounding like, if you don't want people to make a living wage, or have public education paid for by all, or have universal health care that you didn't care about others and that if you didn't want to seem that way you should get on board with these notions.
I don't disagree with that. But it misses the point. If you don't care about those things you're screwing yourself over as well. And this is the point people somehow seem to miss.
Immigration. I'll start here because it is probably the most controversial. Simply put, every 1st world country has birth rates too low to support even a stable economy. Native born citizens are also generally the most violent and least productive. Sure... you might let a terrorist in. But, statistically, there will be MANY, MANY, MANY more home grown terrorists than from those who immigrate. And guess what? Simply not being a shit head to immigrants would probably go a long way to reducing the number of immigrants who come over and go on to become terrorists.
And without them, well, as people die off and not enough fresh blood is there to take over, your economy will shrink. People will lose jobs. This will exacerbate suffering and deaths. It will provoke native born citizens to emigrate.
Health Care. Interesting fact: The more people who can afford and use health care, the more people doctors actually see. The more people doctor's see, the more they hone their craft. The more we discover. The more we learn. In other words, when you pay taxes that pay for health care for someone else, it also improves the state of medical care which you may need down the road. And it is entirely possible that some "poor chap" whose health coverage your taxes helped paid for ends being responsible for medical sciences finding a cure for something you will suffer from down the road.
I'm simplifying the ever loving fuck out of things here. But the point is, there are things which require time and data to deal with. You withholding money now just because you don't mean medical care now might mean that when you do need it, the time wasn't spent and the data not acquired and now no amount of money can save you.
Education. Guess what! Almost everything you do on a daily basis is touched, at some level, by a publicly educated individual. If people are unable to afford to educate their children, or can afford but are able to opt out of it, the number of people available to do those things drops. Quality and availability of all sorts of things will drop. The economy will crumble. We will be overshadowed by other countries which aren't idiotic enough to deprive their citizens of basic education.
I could probably go on and one with examples. At the end of the day... it is generally true that the better off the worst of us are, the better off we all are. You are looking out for yourself by looking out for others. You are improving the quality of the world around. Not in some fantastical, feel good way, but in REAL measurable ways.
This doesn't mean that we shouldn't question how taxes are being used. We should, and we should also re-evaluate how they are being used with some regularity. We could probably be more efficient in our spending. There are probably areas of greater and lesser value to all. It is simply that none of this takes away from my previous point; spending on public activities with measurable benefits to those who use them provide improvements for all.
So, don't be an asshole. You don't even have to stop so that people will THINK you're a decent human being. You can stop solely because it will likely benefit you directly in the long run.
I don't disagree with that. But it misses the point. If you don't care about those things you're screwing yourself over as well. And this is the point people somehow seem to miss.
Immigration. I'll start here because it is probably the most controversial. Simply put, every 1st world country has birth rates too low to support even a stable economy. Native born citizens are also generally the most violent and least productive. Sure... you might let a terrorist in. But, statistically, there will be MANY, MANY, MANY more home grown terrorists than from those who immigrate. And guess what? Simply not being a shit head to immigrants would probably go a long way to reducing the number of immigrants who come over and go on to become terrorists.
And without them, well, as people die off and not enough fresh blood is there to take over, your economy will shrink. People will lose jobs. This will exacerbate suffering and deaths. It will provoke native born citizens to emigrate.
Health Care. Interesting fact: The more people who can afford and use health care, the more people doctors actually see. The more people doctor's see, the more they hone their craft. The more we discover. The more we learn. In other words, when you pay taxes that pay for health care for someone else, it also improves the state of medical care which you may need down the road. And it is entirely possible that some "poor chap" whose health coverage your taxes helped paid for ends being responsible for medical sciences finding a cure for something you will suffer from down the road.
I'm simplifying the ever loving fuck out of things here. But the point is, there are things which require time and data to deal with. You withholding money now just because you don't mean medical care now might mean that when you do need it, the time wasn't spent and the data not acquired and now no amount of money can save you.
Education. Guess what! Almost everything you do on a daily basis is touched, at some level, by a publicly educated individual. If people are unable to afford to educate their children, or can afford but are able to opt out of it, the number of people available to do those things drops. Quality and availability of all sorts of things will drop. The economy will crumble. We will be overshadowed by other countries which aren't idiotic enough to deprive their citizens of basic education.
I could probably go on and one with examples. At the end of the day... it is generally true that the better off the worst of us are, the better off we all are. You are looking out for yourself by looking out for others. You are improving the quality of the world around. Not in some fantastical, feel good way, but in REAL measurable ways.
This doesn't mean that we shouldn't question how taxes are being used. We should, and we should also re-evaluate how they are being used with some regularity. We could probably be more efficient in our spending. There are probably areas of greater and lesser value to all. It is simply that none of this takes away from my previous point; spending on public activities with measurable benefits to those who use them provide improvements for all.
So, don't be an asshole. You don't even have to stop so that people will THINK you're a decent human being. You can stop solely because it will likely benefit you directly in the long run.
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