Obliged? You telling me that I'm obliged to ask you to spend my own money any damn way I see fit?
An oldie but a goodie.
Posted on 02/12/2026 6:27:28 AM PST by MtnClimber
I often make fun of the liberal mindset that prescribes that all the personal problems of people in our society can and must be solved by government taxing and spending and the creation of more and more “programs” of one sort and another. As I write on my “About” page:
The central tenet of [the Manhattan] orthodoxy is that all personal problems of the people in society can be solved by government taxing and spending. The obvious corollary is that since all problems can be solved by taxing and spending, therefore they must be solved by taxing and spending, and anyone who stands in the way of those solutions is immoral.
The fundamental difficulty here, as Margaret Thatcher famously quipped, is that pretty soon you “run out of other people’s money.” And that’s when you are only trying to create perfect fairness and justice within your own country. More recently the progressive orthodoxy has morphed to a point where the American taxpayers are now seen as obligated to solve the personal problems of everyone in the world.
Do you think I am exaggerating? Consider if you will the most extreme of possible examples: Afghanistan. Are the American taxpayers obliged to solve the personal problems of the people in that god-forsaken country? If you are wondering, check out this piece from the New York Times on February 4, headline, “In Afghanistan, a Trail of Hunger and Death Behind U.S. Aid Cuts.”
Afghanistan — Isn’t that the country that fought violently and relentlessly for two decades to drive the U.S. out, finally succeeding when the U.S. withdrew in August 2021? We tried to bring 21st century civilization to this violent, tribal society, and they manifestly hated us and wanted nothing to do with us. They killed thousands of our soldiers. Now that we have left, it seems that they find themselves without enough to eat. Could that possibly be our problem? That is the gist of this article. In fact it’s even worse than that, because the article tries to spin the facts to make the reader feel guilty for the alleged suffering of these people. A few excerpts:
The U.S. aid cuts in Afghanistan were as sudden as they were brutal. Even after the U.S. withdrawal and the end of the war in 2021, the United States continued pouring money into Afghanistan. From the 2021 Taliban takeover until last year, Washington had provided nearly $1 billion annually — over a third of all aid flowing into one of the world’s poorest countries.
Did you know that after the disastrous 2021 withdrawal the Biden administration went right ahead and continued to throw a billion a year of American taxpayer money at these people who hate us? And then the bad, bad Trump people imposed the “brutal” cuts.
The [U.S. Agency for International Development’s] programs once helped clear landscapes scarred by war and mines, diversify crops and keep millions from hunger. Four million children are now at risk of dying from malnutrition, according to the World Food Program, the most in a quarter-century.
And it’s not just food but health centers:
Nearly 450 health centers closed because of the cuts, including a tiny white building in the drought-stricken village of Nalej, where Malika Ghullami safely gave birth to two children in past years and was pregnant again with twins last year.
Does it occur to you that the Afghans might have enough to eat if they devoted some effort to growing food instead of opium poppies? Exact figures are not available, but supplying opium to the international drug market is estimated to constitute up to half of the Afghan economy. Somehow this New York Times article never mentions that.
For some more honest information on the Afghan drug-dominated economy, here is a piece from February last year from something called the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. The gist is that after a half-hearted attempt in 2022 by the Taliban-dominated government to ban the growing of opium poppies, the market has returned to “normal,” with Afghanistan by far the dominant supplier of opium in the world markets. The Global Initiative calls the supposed ban of poppy growing “smoke and mirrors.”
Fieldwork in Afghanistan in 2024 found that the sale of opium continued unabated and had even become more ubiquitous. . . . Contrary to initial predictions, the opium ban has not put an end to the illicit drug trade in Afghanistan. The powerful traffickers who were the main source of funding for the Taliban during the insurgency continued to operate freely. . . . Despite the Taliban’s show of strength, the resurgence of cultivation and the continued trade in illicit drugs are testament to the deep roots and resilience of Afghanistan’s illicit drug economy.
So how about Afghanistan taking some of the multi-billions from the international drug trade and devoting that to buying food or operating health clinics? I’m sorry, but that would be expecting these supposedly “fiercely independent” people to actually take some responsibility for their own lives and their own society. If you think they should, then you are not aware of the fundamental principle that it is the American taxpayer, and only the American taxpayer, who must solve all of their problems.
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Manhattan Contrarian ping
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Government officials from the top to the bottom have been corrupted somehow, or these bad decisions would NOT be made. Someone’s getting money/drugs/sex/etc. or all four to make bad decisions. Those who are doing such must be found, arrested, tried and executed for treason. Unless that happens pretty quickly, we will probably be destroyed in ONE DAY, just like Babylon.
Time for a NOT YOUR DADDY badges.
The New York Times is a maggot infested carcass.
Since 70% of the DEMCRATS favor the SAVE Act, then surely they can get a few Democrats to sponsor the bill?
Patriots, Call Congress
US Capitol switchboard
(202) 224-3121
Contact the Trump DOJ
Phone 800-514-0301
TDD 800-514-0383.
Call the Trump White House
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
TTY/TTD Comments: 202-456-6213
Send a letter to the White House
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Message: American Taxpayers want it known: They do not exist for others to prey upon,
and Are Not Obligated To Solve The Personal Problems Of Everyone In The World.
Obliged? You telling me that I'm obliged to ask you to spend my own money any damn way I see fit?
An oldie but a goodie.
But it’s really just a pretext for unlimited graft.
The author is railing against a fundamental tenet of Communism.
The corruption is of the voter base. The Communists have gotten what they vote for. The “safety nets” are becoming fishing nets.
There is also, undoubtedly, crime. All of Congress become millionaires - miraculously! But, I think, this has been allowed to happen due to Communism.
Limited Government has become Government Unlimited.
Very often, journalists, people involved with NGO's, academics, and a certain class of politicians move in the same social/political circles, very often including marriages or at least romantic relationships.
Take Samantha Power, who was the last Biden-appointed head of USAID. Prior to that, she was a journalist for the Boston Globe, The New Republic, and others. She then served in the State Department under Obama, and then after that, on the faculty of Harvard Law. NGO, journalist, academic, and government, all wrapped up in one person. Her husband Cass Sunstein, was a longtime Harvard professor and also part of the Obama Administration.
Multiply that times...thousands, and that's what we're dealing with.
What that means is that when someone in the NYT or wherever writes about the poor unfunded NGO's, he or she almost certainly knows friends, or spouses of friends, that work for that NGO and are at risk of losing their jobs. They're not engaging in "journalism" -- they're just trying to help our their friends so they don't have to feel awkward at the next cocktail party.
Most of those problems have been caused or exacerbated by the the Democratic Party, for whom the NYT serves as the Apologist of Record.
Liberals are allergic to logic, reason, and critical thinking.
They play on the affluent guilt of liberals who think they are saving the world.
I’d bet more than half of the money is kicked back to the NGOs and other government leeches.
They just need a few Learing Centers.
It certainly seems to be the case in California.
Democrats tell us that “the rich” need to pay “their fair share” - never mind that the top 1% pay almost 1/2 of state taxes.
Another billionaire is quietly fleeing the state...Mark Zuckerberg:
“Mark Zuckerberg is leaving California amid concerns over a proposed one-time 5% “billionaire tax” on individuals with a net worth over $1 billion. The tax, which could cost Zuckerberg over $10 billion, is retroactive to January 1, 2026, and has accelerated a wave of wealthy residents relocating from the state.”
Yes, I know: Taxes will be passed down onto the next level until there is no one left except for welfare recipients.
Nothing says we have to help other nations & particularly not those who won’t do what they can to help themselves. Of course we can’t solve the problve of using what they have where it is most needed, hence the poor remain poor & the uneducated remain the same. I guess we went in to keep the Communists out, but it seems maybe not to have worked. It was stated many years ago, early in the life of our country, that it was not wise to get involved in foreaign affairs. I guess some in our country thought otherwise. How soon we get old and too late smart.
JOCK WAS DALLAS! The show was never the same after Jim Davis died.
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