As much as I agree with the benefits of taxes, the Trump admin is showing one of the severe flaws with the American tax system. If the president can just freely choose how and where funds are allocated, then we don't have any actual representation for our taxes. Half the country can vote for a president whose policy is to illegally deny funding to states they don't like.

I think the only solution realistically is going to be continued balkanization of the states as they take up more of the tax burden. Which is not going to lead to the outcomes said voters want. It's a shame since I think we really need a proper national healthcare program but if the president can just shut it down on a whim then there's no point.

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3 days ago | parent | next [-]

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Galanwe 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

What the US needs is constitution amendments and safeguards, so that what is happening does not happen again.

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atmavatar 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

A big problem is that most of the checks and balances were designed around the assumption that each branch would be independent and adversarial with one another. Unfortunately, the existence of political parties cross-cutting the branches breaks this assumption, and they were created by the very founders who designed our government in the first place.

We've been limping around entirely based on the honor system, and after significant capture of the media by a few wealthy individuals, the parties have dropped any pretense of acting for the benefit of the country.

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jaybrendansmith 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Paying taxes this year was more painful than it's ever been, because I am certain some of my money went to the billionaire grifters. If you think paying for good government is bad, try paying for horrible, corrupt government.

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cmxch 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

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	▲	foltik 2 days ago \| parent [-]
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