Crosmando: As I said, I wouldn't have a problem if the US right-wing actually started calling themselves what they really are: capitalist individualists, instead of wrapping themselves in the flag. Because in order to be a patriot you need to actually care about your fellow countrymen, even the most poor ones.
If you have such a huge problem with paying taxes to help your less well-off fellow citizens then you probably only care about yourself and your immediate friends and family, you don't care about your country as a whole. That's what being part of a society is all about.
Last I heard about America, some of it's major cities had some of the largest homeless populations around. And you guys don't even have a proper/permanent unemployment benefit. But whenever someone suggests that taxes be increased on the rich to help alleviate some suffering and help the poor, people go crazy about the "government stealing their money". I mean you guys obviously seem to hate each other intensely because you don't want to help each other, why are you even a country?
I think you're making a serious over-generalization here.
The right-wing has never shied away from being called capitalists. That may not be the main descriptor, but they never say "Oh, no we're not!" Far from it.
The right do care about their fellow countrymen. It's just that there is more than one way to show care and concern. One of the main points of the typical rightward-leaning person is that a private sector job is the best social program. Employ people in stable jobs and you solve a whole lot of the 'care for your neighbors' problems. The left tends to look at it from the other side (a generalization of my own, I admit), which is "they have these problems and we need to support them in their time of need." Both of these have their merit, and both sides do agree with both parts: The right wants to concentrate on getting people employed so they don't need the social support in the first place, and then support those who truly do need it. The left comes at it from the other end, after the support is needed.
I'm paying out the wazoo - on the American scale - for taxes, upwards of 35-40% when all is said and done. If you look at the big picture over here you might be inclined to believe that the wife and I are raking in the cash, hand-over-fist. No, not at all. Simply "middle class", and not even on the upper end of that. But our tax system is so arcane and arbitrary, and so filled with special loopholes and perks that nibble all over the edges in order to give favors to this or that industry / cause, that my tax rate looks quite ridiculous - based on my income - compared with those making magnitudes more than my family does. My little business could be farther ahead than it is (and paying more tax on more revenue) if my tax rate was closer to what the much-wealthier actually pay. But I'm a one-man show with no power - beyond a small voice and a single vote - to correct the screwed-up tax mechanism over here. What I'm stuck with is supporting - with revenue that goes to pay taxes - oft-unneeded Welfare on both ends: corporate and social.
The latest thing around here is a new TIF district, which is a special taxing plan to help spur business growth. There is a particular developer around here who does a lot of big projects, and this latest TIF encompasses his next proposal, among other things. All in the name of growing business and jobs. Sounds great. But it's taking money from my business to help him pay for his, and he' a guy with millions and millions in personal assets, let alone business assets and the ability to snap his fingers to get private loans. The right around here are pretty tired of that stuff, which, based on outsiders' perspectives of the American Right, is contradictory. I hear of yet another grant or gov't-backed loan or what-have-you and I can't help but think, "NOW whose business am I stuck paying for, and when can I get a piece of my tax money back? NOW what program am I paying for in order for that person to choose not to work?"
So I look at what society gets for my 35-40% and I have a hard time feeling that we're getting good value out of it. Yes, this causes me to dislike the big national programs (I prefer state and local programs that can focus on solutions based on local factors) that take the lion's share and only maintains people in need instead of lifting them out of it. And yes, it's equally annoying when it happens on the business side. Does this make me greedy? To me, no - I'm just trying to grow my business a little bit to increase its stability while supporting my family and saving enough for retirement so I don't need to be a leech in my later years, and maybe take a short vacation very few years. To you, maybe that is greed.
Anyway, don't confuse the hot air of punditry and politicians with the day-to-day thoughts of the person who leans rightward. Completely different things, and it's not really the monolithic bloc that one might think it is. Sadly, through all of the white noise the middle-left and middle-right don't get much chance to work together to come up with something that works pretty good for everyone.
