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Comment by 2muchcoffeeman | Hacker News Reader

I’ve read some exchanges from an American friend with their other American friends on social media years ago. I noticed that many of the people were very against the idea of people they don’t think are deserving from benefiting from them. Even in abstract ways. For example people getting welfare who are actually scamming the system. Or having an outside benefit, like poor people getting free healthcare even if they can’t pay taxes. Trails would have been a good example for this group, “why am I paying for trails I don’t use?”.

I have a hypothesis that Americans are so scared of others benefitting from themselves that they miss that many, many more people are deserving and it makes for a better society. But they don’t see that and would rather punish the deserving and themselves, if it means the undeserving will hurt more. I think this thinking also bleeds into your social justice movements.

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There's a very vocal segment of Americans — I live among many of them — who very much believe this. It's not all Americans.

It’s enough of us. A couple pockets of pro-community mutualists here and there don’t make enough of a difference to influence domestic policy.

You don’t have to be communist to believe in maintaining public access to publicly-owned lands. Turns out National Parks, national forests, state parks, campgrounds, etc attract millions of people annually, and most of us are very glad that access is for everyone. As taxpayers we in fact pay for that public infrastructure, just like we pay for roads.

It’s really a weird effect. Like, how enjoyable even is a world where you’re rich, but surrounded by poor, uneducated, sick people, and all you can do is stay inside because the outside is caustic and ravaged?

Is it too much mental gymnastics that it’s a lot more interesting to talk to happy, sophisticated, educated people? To enjoy maintained public parks? To learn from the past in museums that present all kinds of viewpoints? To have a strong workforce that is confidently going to the doctor?

I’ll never get what’s so hard about things affecting other things, even if it doesn’t immediately yield a profit.

The problem is that the people who aren't contributing forget who is actually contributing and start tearing down the system because they have no clue how the world works anymore.

Given how it’s mostly states that take more from the federal government than they give, that are trying to destroy the federal government, my view on keeping the federal government has begun to soften. If Mississippi actively wants to shoot themselves in the foot, at some point, you just have to give up trying to disrupt their plan. Of course not everyone in Mississippi wants that, and many people who don’t will be seriously negatively affected, and won’t have the means to move, so they are why my position hasn’t changed yet.

These people understand this. However they are not willing to have waste in the system. They want to help exactly who needs help and not scammers. If this cannot be done, then help no one.

I’m all for having better checks and stopping fraud. But not at the expense of helping no one. I’d rather keep a system running even if there is waste as long as it mostly works.

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