Muscatine

Sooooooo....who pays for all of this?

Most all of us pays for it.   You surely didn't have to ask did you?

Good for you!  I sense real progress.  You were close, but in reality a small percentage of "us" pays for most of it. 

  And the guys who take your money...the governments.... gets to decide what's important, what you'll do, what kind of light bulbs you can buy, how much soda you can get at once, what kind of health care you'll have, etc.  Of course, the government generates no money.  It merely decides what it needs and takes it from those of us who produce and pay taxes.  It doesn't have to stay on a budget.  It can spend more than it takes from us. 

So your next assignment is to figure out how much you're willing to give to the government.  Are you willing to give them 100% of what you make and let them make all of your decisions?  Maybe 50% and let them make half of your decisions?  How much is enough?

Take your time.

Some of Jamey Madison's thoughts on taxation:

"Government is instituted to protect property of every sort; as well that that lies in the various rights of individuals, as that which the term particularly expresses.  This being the end of government, that alone is a just government, that impartially secures to every man, whatever is his own." 

and..

"A just security of property is not afforded by that government, under which unequal taxes oppress one species of property and reward another species: where arbitrary taxes invade the domestic sanctuaries of the rich, and excessive taxes grind the faces of the poor."

I might add: "Mankind are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights."  It is the proper role of government to protect those equal rights, not provide equal things.