henry quirk wrote: ↑Wed Jan 19, 2022 11:29 pm
Most people do not want to be free. George Bernard Shaw was right, "freedom means responsibility, that's why most men dread it."
that's not my experience: not with family, friends, or the wider community
Then your experience is a very provincial parochial one. Your, "community," must be a very isolated one because it is nothing like the larger world of American society, or even the world's society.
Most Americans would be terrified if they believed there was not a government there to take care of them, to provide their education, their health care, protection them from, "big business," and every possible threat from the weather to foreign powers.
Do you have any idea how many people depend on government programs for everything from education to food and housing? Do you think they want to be free to have to supply those things themselves?
40 million Americans in 2018, (costing $57.1 billion, are on SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program--i.e. food stamps). They cannot feed themselves or their children. There are 22.6 million children each school day (costing $10.4 billion) fed by NSLP (National School Lunch Program). Do you really think these people would rather be free to feed themselves and their children?
Slightly over one-fifth (21.1 percent) of American families (6.665 million) receive government assistance from the TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) program. 73 million Americans, (about 22 percent of the U.S. population) have their health needs paid for by Medicaid costing $458 billion. Over 8 million Americans receive SSI (Supplemental Security Income) costing $57 billion.
No, most Americans would be terrified of having the kind of freedom that would require them to provide for their own children's education, health care, employment, future emergencies and retirement. You need to get out more, Henry.