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. . . there's a ruling class then there's everybody else. If you aren't sure what I mean by that, then it's the people who make the big decisions and own the politicians.
Who exactly is in that ruling class? How does one tell?
I ask because I've worked with and represented some of the wealthiest people in America, and they certainly didn't feel like a member of the ruling class. One of my clients had a fight with the IRS that he lost and had to pay it over $1.5
Billion. That doesn't sound like something that would happen to a member of a ruling class.
I've also worked at the very highest levels of government. While there, I couldn't find any "ruling class" to save my life (other than perhaps the career people in the vast bureaucracies).
There's a lot wrong with America, including lots of corruption, but describing it in overly simplistic Marxist terms is neither accurate nor likely to achieve any kind of beneficial change.
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But I'm really saying the government should INVEST IN THE PEOPLE. Pay for things that do good.
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Grants to improve electricity infrastructure in rural America. A good investment. Providing funds to state to repair and replace aging infrastructure. A good investment. Providing proper funding to public schools and teacher pay. Good investments. Expanding Medicaid so more people can access healthcare. A GOOD INVESTMENT.
Not many people would disagree with that generally. Do you know of any people on the right who are opposed to rural electrification? I don't.
Now, they may oppose a program that claims to be for rural electrification because it may in reality be simply a way to move federal funds into the pockets of the favored few. That occurs on both sides of the political spectrum, and in my experience, slightly more so on the left than the right. Most politicians are self-centered cynics and say what sounds good, but are primarily interested in lining their pockets and the pockets of their families and supporters. Are those programs you like actually "investments" in people or investments in politicians' cronies?
I used to volunteer as a tutor at an inner city school paid for by private contributions. The school's budget per student was 1/25th of public schools, and teachers at the school worked for salaries literally 1/2 of their public school counterparts. Yet the kids at that school performed in the top 1% of national standardized tests. Why is that? Should we keep throwing money at public schools when their performance is so bad and seems to be getting worse?
We've poured hundreds of billions already into the such things as education, yet our education metrics continue to decline. Why do you think that pouring more money into it will change anything? Also, how much of the money being spent on education is actually going to teachers and classrooms? Don't you think that we ought to reform and streamline education before we simply dump more money into it?
Look, I'm an unabashed conservative (although I disagree on many points with the conservative consensus). I believe in a strong defense and spent my time in DC in the Pentagon. Yet I believe that our defense budget is bloated, that defense contractors are corrupt, and that we badly need to reform DoD before we simply shove more money at it.