TrickyBuddha Studios

I want all of these anti-socialism Republicans to stop using my socialized resources. I want them to STOP using my Medicare, my Social Security, and my VA Healthcare. I want them to get off my highways, get off my bridges, and stay out of my forests, parks, and museums. I want them to stop fishing MY socialized fish planted there by fish and game wardens, and I want them to stop sending their children to MY socialized schools and public universities. I don’t want to see them putting their dirty little hands all over my books in my fine, socialized libraries. While they’re at it, they can just turn off their water, electricity, and gas, and take down those mailboxes, too. And stop calling my police officers and firefighters!!! We pay our taxes proudly in this house and we don’t take kindly to dragging along a bunch of whining, ungrateful babies along behind us.

I got this forward and, well, I laughed. I’ll be honest. But after I laughed, I thought. And what I thought was that if I were “the other side”, how would I respond?

And I realized I’d probably say that we, the other side, use these systems because it makes sense to — kind of like how I conditionally love and support Walmart — but it would be a better world if the taxpayer were not put on the hook and exploited for the creation and maintenance of such systems.

That’s when I came to the conclusion that, fundamentally, that’s the line in the sand.

On one side, we have people who want to do for themselves and think that others should, too. And if people need help, that’s cool. We can help them individually. If everyone helped those around them, then everything would be OK. If people paid a road crew to pave a road, then the road gets paved. No need to get government involved. And on the other side, we have people who think it’s more efficient for everyone who is capable to contribute a little more to help everyone who needs it or to get the roads paved. And who better to help everyone than the government (because we sure don’t trust everyone to get help otherwise)? So it all comes down to your belief in people. Do you think we can help one another and let no one fall behind? Or do you think we need a bigger system in place to maintain order?

And that’s probably always going to be the line. And it probably always has been the line. “Vista is go” suggested that people eventually come to realize that things are better when the basics are met and when people work together. That’s how society evolves. And social democracies seems to be the template solution to the common issues. It seems that way in other countries. But here, I wonder. Here, I think the sand has petrified and the line has become permanent. I’m starting to believe that there’s too much weight on either side of this tug-of-war for anything to ever change or advance. Stagnation. All that’s left is for a few of us on either to side to yell at the others in this never-ending feud.