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[Johndoey]

You don't pay for a library because you use it (although you can and should!), you pay for a library so kids and poor people can use and benefit from it. They democratize access to quality (read: better than online) information and the finer aspects of culture and our heritage. Thanks to interlibrary sharing, libraries don't have to be big, but your town should definitely be expected to have SOME kind of library.

It's all whose ox is being gored. People always change their tune when they need access to some service that's no longer being covered adequately. It's like people don't understand what it means to live in a community.

 

[Trickster]

Nah, Republicans aren't in THAT great of a position electorally since states are still determined by popular vote, and many blue states have cities and liberal enclaves (like college towns) large enough to drown out the Rural vote (for example, Chicago/Champaign-Urbana/East. St Louis and Illinois, Denver and the college towns and Colorado). What happened this election is that the states with declining cities (Detroit and Michigan, Milwaukee and Wisconsin) turned red before the southern states experiencing demographic shifts turned blue (Arizona, Georgia I think, and eventually Texas). Where this does hurt, though, is in controlling state legislatures.

Seeing how the large majority of states swung further to the republican side compared to the 2012 election, I really think that the rust belt states that turned red has less to do with the declining cities, and just more to do with Trump saying what the people wanted to hear, while Clinton (whether people understand or agree with it) due to a lot of factors, some valid and some invalid, wasn't able to appeal to voters as well as she should have been.

 

[SaviourMK2]

This is the problem right here. I know it's an innocent comment, but we have some of the lowest taxes in the world compared to other economically developed countries. Especially if you throw in non-income taxes like sales tax, for example. The anti-tax propagana has been so strong over the years that I'd say most people who aren't leaning socialist think our taxes are high.

Maybe I should've been more specific. I support taxes, even if they get to be high. My apologies.

 

[shawnbuddy]

Here's what the libertarian dream of a la carte services looks like. Watching your house burn to the ground because you didn't pay a $75 fee.

https://usnews.newsvine.com/_news/2011/12/07/9272989-firefighters-let-home-burn-over-75-fee-again

 

[Steejee]

Once you leave the cities and suburbs, you're in racist, bigoted America. In any state.

Note: However, look closely at those Southern maps, especially the Carolinas. You'll see why conservatives are so hot and heavy on Voter suppression and have been since 1865.

The best map to give to show someone when they try to use the County map as proof Trump had most people's support: (Though you were using it just to demonstrate how rural areas in general are more Trump-oriented)

County votes weighed by population.

Other maps:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/2016/

 

[Dice//]

This is the problem right here. I know it's an innocent comment, but we have some of the lowest taxes in the world compared to other economically developed countries. Especially if you throw in non-income taxes like sales tax, for example. The anti-tax propagana has been so strong over the years that I'd say most people who aren't leaning socialist think our taxes are high.

Definitely. Economically I'm conservative, arguably I'm sure we all are on some level. But you *need* to spend on services that benefit for greater good, yes it costs us more, but nations that do tend to do much better for it.

 

[Snowman Prophet of Doom]

What if the town doesn't want the library though. Including parents of kids in that town

Then go to Somalia? Why should poor people with less of a voice be screwed because they live in Bumblefuck, AK instead of NYC? The entire point of paying taxes is to increase the overall quality of life and stability of society, even if you, personally, do not use the service. These people wouldn't pay $72/year for an unqualified social good, and that problem is likely going to get WORSE as more and more services need some kind of updating.

Fuck them, as I said.

 

[dabig2]

This is the problem right here. I know it's an innocent comment, but we have some of the lowest taxes in the world compared to other economically developed countries. Especially if you throw in non-income taxes like sales tax, for example. The anti-tax propagana has been so strong over the years that I'd say most people who aren't leaning socialist think our taxes are high.

It's by design. The most important thing to do is to keep wages depressed. This means every little bit of tax will hurt. Of course it doesn't truly hurt the rich, but the rich will complain about "high taxes" and try to get people with less to also say "yeah man, they're right and I hate it!". And then the rich guy says "yeah man, your taxes are high because it's going to this other poor bloke who doesn't even need them. Look at him, he's living the life!" TLDR; it's literally that gif with the dudes and the oreos.

And of course keep healthcare unaffordable AND chained to a job, which also ties in with why wages have been largely stagnant for decades.

It's an old tactic of course. I'm pretty sure it was employed even when we were still swinging from trees. Hoard the best, give the commoners a taste of the prosperity but only enough to keep them content and extremely protective of what little they have. Direct any anger at the other commoners. So easy a caveman can do it.