We didn’t care much about oil in the 1790’s. Now we do. So, now we gotta play nice with the middle east. Which means we have to fight some people to protect some people.
We can’t just ignore most of the world like we used to.
The US population in 1790 was around 3.5 million. It was almost entirely agrarian. The life expectancy at birth was around 40, and infant mortality was around 25%. Only white men with property could vote and black men in the South were property. We didn’t have a standing army.
We didn’t have Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security when the country was founded. And that is mostly where the US spends its money. I have heard the federal government described as “an insurance company with an army”. Bit of an overstatement, of course, but expressive of an obvious truth.
People expect the government to do more - they just don’t want to pay for it (or want someone else to pay for it).
Put it this way - what programs do you benefit from, that you are willing to have cut?
Regards,
Shodan
I know math make brain hurt, but the simple answer to the OP is that, based on this chart, 63% of Federal spending is on Defense and entitlements like Social Security and Medicaid & Medicare. Everything else is mostly small potatoes.
So could we turn this into a discussion about what everyone considers essential and non-essential?
It doesn’t need to be rescinded, because it is an important question - what is important for government to provide?
It’s just that looking backwards isn’t necessarily the best way to answer that question. We should consider what we, the people, want to empower our government to do. What do we want to fund collectively? How do we want to pay for it?
None of these are easy questions, and certainly can’t be answer with “let’s just go back to the way it was”. That type of reflexive reactionary attitude is naive.
And I can’t think of any programs off-hand that I benefit from. Certainly not social security in the near future. 
I don’t receive any sort of benefits… just my paycheck. I don’t have insurance… still thinking.
I understand where you’re coming from, but I really don’t find it naive. I think government has grown too large and people expect too much.
No need to rescind this thread, or apologize.
You’ve brought to light some things that we always need to remember.
-Government programs are next to impossible to kill
-No matter what ridiculous program you could come up with, someone - at the very least those employed by the program, will view it as vital.
-While I agree with your underlying believe that we should be caring for ourselves more and relying on the government less, that “red state” mentality is becoming more rare.
Do you drive on public roads? Do you live in an area with adequate police and public safety services? Did you attend public school or university, or work with or for anyone who did?
Can you give an example of how “people expect too much”?
Thanks! I agree with all you say. I just really want people to think about what is necessary and not in their lives, I guess. We lose sight of that.
The “red states” being the ones that get the most federal aid, that’s an interesting turn of phrase.
One federal program is the federal highway system. Do you travel on interstate highways? Do you buy goods that have been transported on interstate highways?
You benefit from all of the things that society provides, such as roads, clean food and water, schools, a nation that is internally secure from internal and external threats, a system of trade that is maintained world wide and protected by a strong military and myriad other things that you use every day and never give a seconds thought too…pretty much all of the stuff that the folks in 1776 didn’t have but wanted. And you pay taxes for all of that stuff, as well as lots of stuff that you might never use but that some of your fellow citizens might…just like they pay taxes for stuff that they might never use but you might.
It has grown too large and people do expect too much. The problem is, how do you lower their expectations? Where do you start with lowering them…and what, as a society, are we willing to accept.
-XT
Did you go to public schools? Do you drive on roads?
So if you get sick or have an accident, the public will foot the bill.
And yet, the two items you listed account for almost nothing.
What, specifically, do you think is non-essential that is a large budget item? Social Security? Medicare? Defense?
Each of these items grew out of a real need, so I think you are compelled to explain why the situation prior was preferable to the situation after.
I am asking everyone to discuss what they feel is essential or not, actually. One could also debate what a “real need” is.
Sure, but besides those, what has the federal government ever given us?
Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. By embracing multiple contradictory concepts simultaneously, the o.p. is demonstrating the expansiveness of his mind. We can just hope that he doesn’t blow an illogic board.
Stranger
There is a chicken or the egg issue at hand here.
We can agree that Social Security is a “real need” I suppose. But at one point, it was a very small part of one’s retiremenet plan. Now, some think SS should be enough pay for one’s whole retirement plan.
We are becomming more “entitled,” would you agree with that??