(disclaimer: I'm employed by of my state government and my salary is mostly funded with federal dollars.)
Also, one of the enduring American myths is rugged individualism (http://www.bartleby.com/59/14/ruggedindivi.html).
People who believe this fall into two camps:
If they're successful, they say, "I made it on my own, and everybody else could, too, if they just worked hard enough!" ignoring minor details like that they went to good schools (paid for by tax dollars), got federally-sponsored grants to pay for their college education (instead of having to rack up thousands of dollars in student loan debt), used their family connections to advance their career, etc.
If they're not successful, they say, "I work hard to feed my family and pay my bills. Why should those people (implied: who are too lazy to work) be given a free ride on my hard-earned money?" This sort prides themselves on never going on what used to be called food stamps (money in the form of vouchers that are only good for food) but has no qualms about taking unemployment insurance payments if they get laid off.
They're also the group most likely to be indignant when they get turned down for a government program (such as disability payments) and demand that whatever program they're applying to "give me back my money" purely on the basis that they paid into the system at some time in the past.*
This group, in essence, divides government spending into two categories: programs that they've paid into and thus have a right to get payments from if they ask and programs where you can get benefits without having to pay in first, like food stamps, which only the aforementioned "they" would take.
I've also seen this type complain indignantly about city, county, state, or federal employees spending "my money" (or "your money" if it's a political rally) on things they don't approve of--things like union dues, political donations (but only if it goes to someone they don't want to win the election), and comprehensive health insurance coverage.
I'm always tempted to ask them if, since they think they have the right to dictate how I spend my salary because they're paying for it, they'd be fine with their boss telling them what they spend their salary on. But I don't bother, because I know what their answer would be: "That's different! I work for my money!" (Yes that's a real quote.)
*They also, in my experience, have a highly-inflated idea of how much money they have in fact actually paid in.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-04-25 02:37 pm (UTC)(disclaimer: I'm employed by of my state government and my salary is mostly funded with federal dollars.)
Also, one of the enduring American myths is rugged individualism (http://www.bartleby.com/59/14/ruggedindivi.html).
People who believe this fall into two camps:
If they're successful, they say, "I made it on my own, and everybody else could, too, if they just worked hard enough!" ignoring minor details like that they went to good schools (paid for by tax dollars), got federally-sponsored grants to pay for their college education (instead of having to rack up thousands of dollars in student loan debt), used their family connections to advance their career, etc.
If they're not successful, they say, "I work hard to feed my family and pay my bills. Why should those people (implied: who are too lazy to work) be given a free ride on my hard-earned money?" This sort prides themselves on never going on what used to be called food stamps (money in the form of vouchers that are only good for food) but has no qualms about taking unemployment insurance payments if they get laid off.
They're also the group most likely to be indignant when they get turned down for a government program (such as disability payments) and demand that whatever program they're applying to "give me back my money" purely on the basis that they paid into the system at some time in the past.*
This group, in essence, divides government spending into two categories: programs that they've paid into and thus have a right to get payments from if they ask and programs where you can get benefits without having to pay in first, like food stamps, which only the aforementioned "they" would take.
I've also seen this type complain indignantly about city, county, state, or federal employees spending "my money" (or "your money" if it's a political rally) on things they don't approve of--things like union dues, political donations (but only if it goes to someone they don't want to win the election), and comprehensive health insurance coverage.
I'm always tempted to ask them if, since they think they have the right to dictate how I spend my salary because they're paying for it, they'd be fine with their boss telling them what they spend their salary on. But I don't bother, because I know what their answer would be: "That's different! I work for my money!" (Yes that's a real quote.)
*They also, in my experience, have a highly-inflated idea of how much money they have in fact actually paid in.