let's just eliminate the middle man

I love how we keep hearing and reading this crap about how X federal program is so precious and can't be cut back because "Z amount of dollars go to state A" or "that program provides funding for Y jobs" or some equally dumb crap. Um, hello? That's our money, you freaking fools! The feds aren't just grabbing the stuff out of the air and handing it out. So where do you think they're getting it? YOU!!

Let's say you give someone your money, he pockets some and hands more out to random dudes you don't know, and gives you back pennies on the dollar. You just got fleeced, right? No, he claims, because he gave you money. But wait, he took your money and then gave you back less than he took. Does it matter that he lost a bunch in the process? Of course it does!

Or let's say you take $50 in coins to one of those change counting machines at the bank, but instead of losing maybe a couple bucks on a bad day, you lose $30 or so. Did you just "make" money or "gain" money or "receive" money? Well, if you're a total idiot or you have a bad case of amnesia, then you're overjoyed at being handed a $20 bill for nothing and the story ends there.* But if you have any common sense and a functioning memory, you realize that there's no way you just "made" $20 because you had to hand over $50 to get it. You got robbed!

Now, someone please explain to me how the government is any different. It takes money from everyone,** grabs most of it to support itself, loses more in the process somewhere, and then redistributes whatever is left in such a manner as to sustain its own necessity and perpetuate the causes for its existence. Okay...now why do we need this process? If those pet programs are so good, let's just cut them off at the federal level and re-create them at the state/local level or in the private sector for a fraction of the cost. And if they aren't so good, then let's axe them altogether.

I know, this doesn't work for every aspect of the federal monstrosity. Border states shouldn't have to foot the bill for defense of the whole. A single currency is necessary for the purpose of working with other countries (only in certain ways, of course). And there are others -- but few enough that none are coming to mind. But health care? Roads? Education? Research? Welfare? Benevolence? Bury that crap. It's all better handled at lower levels. The default should be to take care of things as close to the source as possible, and only if absolutely necessary should any issue be escalated to a higher level. Somewhere along the line the process got turned around.

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* Observe that an idiot thinks this wacked system is a good thing. So is it any wonder that such a system is so popular in our country? As a guy at work put it last week, people get the government they deserve.
** Okay, it doesn't take from everyone, and it takes from people in direct proportion to how little they benefit from the redistribution. But you know what I mean.