{"id":1125,"date":"2019-10-28T20:59:14","date_gmt":"2019-10-29T03:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1125"},"modified":"2019-10-28T20:59:14","modified_gmt":"2019-10-29T03:59:14","slug":"vending-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/?p=1125","title":{"rendered":"Vending Machine?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes when you listen to people you hear the way they\nthink. When we have a problem to solve, how we think about it, how we frame it\ncan determine our ability to find a solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many people see government as a vending machine. It\u2019s a\nmysterious thing that takes our money and gives us back something we expect to\nbe of equal value. If it doesn\u2019t work we cuss it and kick it. If the candy bar\nis stale or melted, we cuss it and resolve not to put in any more quarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does this image work for you? Should the services we receive\nfrom the government we elect equal the money we put into it in taxes levied? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this is how you think government should work, then just\nhow much is your safety worth? Government cannot ensure safety, but we expect\nsome modicum here in the United States, don\u2019t we? We don\u2019t have roving bands of\narmed drug-lord-paid para-militaristas shooting up our town centers. Most of us\nlive in relative safety. In fact, we are more likely to harm ourselves than be\nharmed by others here in Idaho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What price would you put on justice? Or should justice just\nbe something you get, like a candy bar, when you put enough money into the\nmachine? On a trip to Washington DC I took a picture of the inscription above\nthe columns of the US Supreme Court: Equal Justice Under Law. We here in Idaho\nare struggling to provide adequate defense for those charged with a crime and\nunable to afford their defense. Maybe you think they shouldn\u2019t get the candy\nbar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do clean water and clean air have a value? I\u2019ll bet you\u2019d\npony up more than a quarter if you didn\u2019t have it. If you do, do you think it\njust comes for free?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I watch the arguments around public education in our state\nand the vending machine image sits right up front. If we pay teachers more will\nthe test scores come up? If we make college more affordable will salaries rise?\nWhat will I get from this vending machine for my quarter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taxes are painful if you think you aren\u2019t getting \u201cyour fair\nshare\u201d. I was heartened to find US citizens actually pay their federal income\ntaxes at a pretty high rate; around 86%. And this compliance rate has been\nconsistent for years. We beat most European countries, the UK at 78% and Italy\na mere 62%. Are we suckers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wonder if this will change much as our faith in our\ngovernment seems to be eroding. Almost 70% of Americans trusted government\nbefore the Vietnam War. Our faith rebounded under Reagan after the Nixon\/Carter\ndecline. But we have been below 25% of people who have faith in the government for\nten years now. So why do we keep ponying up our quarters to this vending\nmachine in which we have such little faith?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s because our local governments are doing a good\njob. We have little faith in Washington DC, but our city water systems and\nstreets keep working. And we know our local mayor or city council. We should\nanyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The vending machine way of thinking can build distrust. One\nessay I read suggested government should be considered more like a barn\nraising. We all get together, share our different skills, energies and\nresources to accomplish something it would take just one of us way too long to\naccomplish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, get out and vote for your city council, your mayor, your\nfire district candidates. Your vote is just some of the work you can do. Don\u2019t\nfigure they can get this work done without all of us chipping in. Keep your\nquarters, raise a barn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes when you listen to people you hear the way they think. When we have a problem to solve, how we think about it, how we frame it can determine our ability to find a solution. Many people see government … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1126,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125\/revisions\/1126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/danschmidtforsenate.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}