I am going to describe two scenarios and I want you to tell me which scenario you would rather live in and why. Also please include your age, gender, country and political affiliation.
Scenario A:
Your government (and its citizens through a majority vote) has decided that all citizens should be given the basic necessities. Every citizen is given a car and a home to suit their needs. The car is one that is safe, reliable and gets the best gas mileage. You are allowed limited options such as color and whether you want a convertible, two door or four door, and other options are allowed for those who need them such as pickup trucks for farmers, minivans for large families and handicap accessibility features. The homes you get are also suited to your needs with few options, and if the home doesn’t fit your needs you may be asked to move (but in the same town) such as if you have children you can move to a larger house, when they grow up you must move to a smaller house. You also get free healthy food and you have the option of buying junk food with your own money if you so choose. You are not however allowed to buy larger cars or houses due to the environmental impact. You also get your utilities provided for up to a certain limit as well as gasoline and car maintenance (you are free to buy more utilities and gasoline from your own earnings if you wish). Healthcare and education is also provided to each citizen as well as clothing for work and job interviews (other clothing may of course be bought by the individual) as well as free school uniforms for school children. Childcare is covered for everyone and so is care for the elderly, sick and disabled such as home health, hospice, nursing homes and retirement homes.
There are no taxes for anyone making less than $250k per year, and subsidies to get incomes up to 250k for families and 200k for individuals who are working full time and not making that much. People making over that will be taxed, and very wealthy who have more than one million dollars will be taxed heavily.
Scenario B:
You live in a system with total freedom and complete individual responsibility. The government exists only to curb serious crime (murder and rape – there are no more laws against drugs, prostitution or other such crimes and private property is the individual’s responsibility to protect) and to provide a military. Everything is owned by the private sector including schools, roads and fire departments. You must pay for children to go to school, you must subscribe to the fire department to use their services, even emergency room care is not provided to people with no insurance. There are no more public libraries – there are privately owned book rentals instead. You must also pay tolls on every road you drive because they are all privately owned. However, there are no taxes other than a sales tax to fund police and military.
