Re: OT: Politics [Was:Social Contract]
On Saturday 29 April 2006 22:09, Roberto C. Sanchez wrote:
> > Can't afford to go to a school at all? Sorry, you don't get an
> > education, because it's a privilege of those who can afford to pay for it
> > out of pocket rather than a right as a citizen.
> >
> > Sorry, I prefer knowing that everyone in my society has an opportunity
> > for an education by virtue of their being a member of the society.
>
> I think you misunderstand. The point is that if public education were
> eliminated, you would no longer be taxed for it. Thereforce, your
> disposable income would be higher and you could then pay for your
> children's education. That is, assuming you could not afford it before.
Except that it's not a 1:1 tradeoff. The tuition cost for a good private
school is more than what an individual family would get back in their taxes
by eliminating public schools. Substantially more.
What you're forgetting is that the cost of public education is spread out over
the entire community, rather than placed just at the feet of those with kids
in the system at the moment. That reduces the amount a given family needs to
pay, and spreads it over a longer period of time. My neighbor growing up
never had kids, but her property taxes helped send me to a good public school
so that I had a decent education and am now contributing to the economy that
is paying for her nursing home, and my social security income tax payments
allows her to afford to eat.
It does all come around in the end. A rising tide lifts all ships. Selfish
greed just leaves most people destitute.
--
Larry Garfield AIM: LOLG42
larry@garfieldtech.com ICQ: 6817012
"If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of
exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea,
which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to
himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession
of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it." -- Thomas
Jefferson
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