Makers v. Takers: A Sensible Way to Debate the Role of Government?

[nuscholar]

History: Proof nothing is all that new under the sun.

[charlesrobinson]

Are unproductive members of a permanent heritable rentier class considered makers or takers? How about celebrities who are wildly overcompensated based on attributes such as physical appearance, personality or comparatively useless skills playing professional sports? If policies promote a large concentration of income and wealth and the resulting inadequate aggregate demand renders a large fraction of workers superfluous, should we respect the wealthy when they accuse the unemployed of laziness?

[obits]

Liberals like to contend that many conservatives are being hypocritical because the conservatives receive benefits from programs that they politically oppose.

This is not hypocrisy. Let me explain. If you are forced to pay into the system, then you have the right to receive from that system even if you don’t like the system. If you force me to pay for something, I’m definitely going to use that thing because I paid for it. Get it?