Hypothetical question: For those of you on *any* sort of government pension or about to become a beneficiary of one… are you willing to give that up in any sort of government budget fix?
It is a worthwhile Q. At the end of the day, we’ve promised a heck of a lot in terms of social security, pensions, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, food stamps, government securities on mortgages, tax breaks, tax exemptions, promises to the military services…
It gets back to two fundamental points: (1) Socialism sucks… until it works for you, and (2) in all this talk of liberty, what are we really willing to give up?
Pensions and entitlements are an easy answer… until it’s your pension, or grandma’s Medicaid at $75 a day.
When you start getting down to monetary items, or transportation, or education, or the military, or food stamps, or social services, or state police, or EMS providers, or government-sponsored research, or mortgages, or agriculture subsidies, or low-interest student loans…
In short, do we really know what we’re asking for when we are asking for the demise of the current quasi-socialism goop that is the current federal (and state?) budget?
Are we really willing to meet the challenge of what we’re asking for?
There’s a lot of facets to this. I’m sure we can find a wounded vet for every welfare queen… but the point still holds. Maybe we’re all “socialists” at the end of the day if we’re providing for the wounded vet… but differing in degrees?
Still, everyone wants something for free. No one wants decreased services, no one wants their taxes raised (or at least their taxes raised). How do you cure the demands of a generation spoiled? Generation Xers have one heck of a responsibility right now… and frankly, beyond political rhetoric, no one really has the right mathematical equation at the moment.
It’s a serious question, and completely open ended. Offer your ideas in the comments section below, because as we get closer to August, this is going to be *the* national question of import that thoughtful, rational Americans are going to have to answer and reconcile.
