I think this is true. I think this is where the divisions in our country have landed. If we didn't have libraries, but someone proposed one, this is exactly what close to half (or more) of Americans would think, right? "If you want a book, get a job and buy it!" Or: "Why do my tax dollars have to fund the books you want to read?" Am I wrong here? Am I being too up my own ass about this?
Look, libraries are a good thing. Many people agree with that, even the people that are trying to ban books that contain gay themes in them. But I wonder how much people don't realize that these things we agree are good are... at their heart... very socialist.
Forget libraries and look at public schools. What's more socialist than thinking that we need to provide every child a "proper" education? At tax-payer expense? And I know that there's a bunch of libertarian nuts out there that think we shouldn't have public schools, but I think the vast majority of the public supports them. But if that's true, why is it true of education and not something that seems even more fundamental like healthcare?
Maybe I'm being too overly analytical when most people don't think of it in terms like this. I think most people are increasingly looking at these issues as "us vs. them" and don't go any further into their introspection than that. But it frustrates me because we acknowledge that certain social programs are good for everyone because they're good for society in general. But why are the lines drawn arbitrarily between some projects and not others?
