Everyone OK with this?

[calimary]

34. Only problem is - there were MANY attempts to explain this concept.

There were LEGIONS of explanations - look, Social Security is "Socialist." Our many government programs that you like and want and depend upon, THEY'RE "Socialist," too. Like that Medicare? Yep. Those roads and highways that we all use that were paid for by public funds? Those, too. Tax money? Yep. That annoying stuff that pays for everything from the National Weather Service and NOAA and - um - FEMA - to our military and all the expenses thereof. That as well. The basics of it IS as you say: "by pooling money together for a common goal, it ends up cheaper for everyone." The infrastructure that provides the very underpinnings for our way of life - that was built by the New Deal and other efforts, is paid for by OUR TAX MONEY.

Hell, as a Californian, living in what's called a DONOR state, I frankly resent knowing that my tax money is going to the red states who always run in the red and always take and need more than the tax money THEY pay in. I'd rather keep that tax money here in California. But I realize that the money needs to be spread out and shared - BECAUSE THERE'S GENUINE, LEGITIMATE NEED out there, beyond just my state line. Whenever I found myself wavering and not caring about what went on in other states, all I had to do was remember my kid, and his band buddies, in their little tour van, driving on roads that some states didn't bother repairing, or (Heaven FORBID!) bridges and overpasses that hadn't been maintained properly for years or hadn't been brought up to code. You bet I worried about that. My daughter and her husband and his family live several states away and you better believe I expect that infrastructure to be damn well maintained so THEY don't find themselves collapsed into a river that cuts through part of their small town. And hell, if that particular red state (unfortunately), doesn't want to pay or raise taxes to cover those repairs, well, okay then. Use my California tax money! It's gotta come from somewhere - if they're gonna be cheap-ass and pennywise/pound-foolish in that state.

We've explained this and explained this and explained this. Every so often, there were TV segments about it. Explaining and explaining and explaining.

But by Jove that didn't work. Just didn't. NOBODY paid any attention to the multitudes of pleas and efforts to educate and illuminate. These idiots just weren't gonna take delivery on a single syllable of it. Further proof of that was how all the "...ists" sort of melded together as one big ol' nasty epithet of libtard horribleness. Socialist-Communist-Fascist. These and more, all got lumped together in one big batch of toxic swill, indistinguishable one from another, and guaranteed to help turn voters away from voting for Democrats. Those terms all mean the same thing, right? Uh - NO. But you'd never guess that from hearing the teabaggers talk and misinterpret and blend the baloney, and dumb it down so even the dimmest of the reactionary dim bulbs on that side could "understand" it. Remember all those little old ladies in their wheelchairs and walkers at teabagger rallies - holding their signs that read alternately "NO Socialism" and "Keep your hands off MY MEDICARE!"