@gwynnion Yup! There's waste and inefficiency in any large system, to be sure, but the conservative claim that it's all waste is just a lie. Most public servants really do care about doing their jobs well and trying to get people what they need.

What the republicans really mean when they say "waste" is people. They just think certain people are a waste and want them to go away.

@gwynnion Yeah. The difference is that they want to feel good about themselves when they pay their taxes and want the illusion that those people will be fine when they walk by them on the street so they at least like that those programs exist.

To me, this is actually a fascinating difference. Liberals want to feel good about themselves for paying their taxes and voting liberal. They don't want to actually DO anything, but they want to believe that their politics and their tax money makes it okay.

Conservatives, on the other hand, really value their ability to look down on those people. They do actually like the little feel-good they get from pitying someone and doing a little something (which is never nearly enough.) They like the feeling of superiority and power and "good personness" that it gives them. They think their goodness as people and the little, tiny things they do should be enough to fix the world and they shouldn't have to actually pay for any of it.

@faithisleaping This mentality extends to the idea that there is a "normal" type of person, who looks like them and thinks the way they do, that should be held as the standard for others to follow.

Liberals are sometimes willing to indulge difference with largesse up to the point they think it threatens their sense of normality.