05-15-2021, 03:11 PM
The basis of a good public policy cannot be what the personal benefit is to me because as a human being I’m always inclined to act in my own best interest.
But as a member of a society, the basic bargain that we make is that I surrender some of my personal liberty to the society and that I am willing to pay for items that benefit the greater good. I don’t use roads in each of the 50 states, or utility grids, or charitable healthcare organizations, or any of the other services we collectively provide.
But I’m willing to have my tax dollars go to that because as a whole it benefits society.
I am perfectly willing to pay more tax today to make community college universally available to students without cost to them. I’m smart enough to understand that the cost is borne by society as a whole and not willing to engage in a sleight of hand arguments that for free isn’t free. No rational thinking person believes that professors and janitors and support staff work for free, we just understand that collectively we can pay a little something towards that through our tax dollars.
As to the argument that we are saddling a future generation with wild amounts of debt, that does not need to be the case. If that’s the only argument that one can make against universal community college, you’re being selfish. I am not saying I want community college free to the student and debt to be saddled, I am saying I want universal community college and I’m willing to pay more in taxes today to accomplish that.
If one was serious about not settling future generations with collective that, you would call for much higher income taxes and the elimination of practically every tax benefit in the tax code. But we normally don’t advocate against our own interest do we?
If you don’t believe in collectively each of us paying a little something so that we all can benefit and that no one is disadvantaged, then I suggest you cancel your life insurance, you cancel your homeowners or fire insurance, you cancel your flood insurance, and you cancel your car insurance.
Because the Lord forbid, you pay some thing that you don’t directly benefit from and somebody else gets a little pennies of your money out of your pocket from that insurance company.
The concept is exactly the same - we each pay a little so all can benefit.
Sent from my iPhone using DegreeForum.net
But as a member of a society, the basic bargain that we make is that I surrender some of my personal liberty to the society and that I am willing to pay for items that benefit the greater good. I don’t use roads in each of the 50 states, or utility grids, or charitable healthcare organizations, or any of the other services we collectively provide.
But I’m willing to have my tax dollars go to that because as a whole it benefits society.
I am perfectly willing to pay more tax today to make community college universally available to students without cost to them. I’m smart enough to understand that the cost is borne by society as a whole and not willing to engage in a sleight of hand arguments that for free isn’t free. No rational thinking person believes that professors and janitors and support staff work for free, we just understand that collectively we can pay a little something towards that through our tax dollars.
As to the argument that we are saddling a future generation with wild amounts of debt, that does not need to be the case. If that’s the only argument that one can make against universal community college, you’re being selfish. I am not saying I want community college free to the student and debt to be saddled, I am saying I want universal community college and I’m willing to pay more in taxes today to accomplish that.
If one was serious about not settling future generations with collective that, you would call for much higher income taxes and the elimination of practically every tax benefit in the tax code. But we normally don’t advocate against our own interest do we?
If you don’t believe in collectively each of us paying a little something so that we all can benefit and that no one is disadvantaged, then I suggest you cancel your life insurance, you cancel your homeowners or fire insurance, you cancel your flood insurance, and you cancel your car insurance.
Because the Lord forbid, you pay some thing that you don’t directly benefit from and somebody else gets a little pennies of your money out of your pocket from that insurance company.
The concept is exactly the same - we each pay a little so all can benefit.
Sent from my iPhone using DegreeForum.net
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