Well, I'm joining this one rather late,but I'll see what I can do.

I've been on both sides of this issue, economically speaking. I grew up poor... not dirt poor, just working-class poor with a single mom. No health insurance, old beater cars to ride in, clothes from K-Mart, and bad memories of the low-cost county dental clinic. Because of caring grandparents and a creative mother, we did pretty well; I was in high school before I realized we were poor. While we were never on welfare, we did get free government cheese and other foods and I qualified for programs such as Headstart.

Now, I'm a physician and I pull in a pretty decent income (which my husband is exceptionally good at spending). Every year I see an awfully big chunk go off to the Feds and to the State. Do I grumble about this? Not really. Oh, I'd like to see less spent on the military, but overall I have no big complaints. Why?

I could not be the person I am today, without the public benefits I received as a child and young adult. I was helped, therefore I owe help in return. What gifts did I receive from society growing up? (and mom never made enough to pay much taxes, so they *were* gifts)

Free preschool (which I credit for the fact that I learned to read at age 4) and a free k-12 education, for starters. The reduced cost of dental care. PUBLIC LIBRARIES!!! I spent half my childhood at the library, it seems. Safe streets to drive/ride down. Parks to play in. Cheap swimming lessons. Protection by the police and the fire department, especially the time Mom almost set fire to the kitchen with oven cleaner. A jobs-training program for youth that landed me my first part-time job in high school, when the economy was so bad (this was the Reagan years) that a respectable 16-year-old with a 4.00 GPA couldn't get a job flipping burgers. And many other things that I can't think of now.

Oh... mustn't forget low-interest student loans and grants, that enabled me to complete my education. And the grant from FEMA four years ago when a flood took out our basement (after our idiot insurance agent advised us that we didn't need flood insurance!) I don't begrudge the tax money, even though the equation doesn't always balance.

My in-laws are extremely right-wing, and I find them very very scary. My father-in-law believes that the public sector really shouldn't be providing libraries, that people should just buy books if they want to read them. And he believes that if the city or county IS going to fund libraries, that the old graceful marble libraries should get the boot in favor of lots of mini-libraries in shopping malls, full of the latest John Grisham novels and to hell with the classics. He doesn't believe in public transportation ("if they can't scrape up the money to buy a car they should stay home") and absolutely despises public schools. Yet this same man (he's seventy-two) insists on milking every last cent out of his Medicare and takes advantage of a Jobs Plus employee (that he doesn't have to pay) for his small business as often as he's allowed to do so. What a hypocrite.

So many people want the benefits of both local government and federal government without the responsibilities. They don't want a lot of rules and regulations to hem them in, but what's the first thing out of my father-in-law's mouth when something distasteful happens to him? "There oughta be a law!"