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From: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Universal social programs
Message-ID: <1299@dciem.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 20-Dec-84 16:34:00 EST
Article-I.D.: dciem.1299
Posted: Thu Dec 20 16:34:00 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 20-Dec-84 22:05:17 EST
References: 
Reply-To: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor)
Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada
Lines: 29
Summary: 


>I can't understand all this furor about the universality of social programs.
>People seem to be getting more in an uproar about this issue than about
>abortion, capital punishment and nuclear disarmament, but I don't see what
>the big deal is.  It seems a waste for the government to take money from
>my right pocket and then put some of it back into my left pocket, especially
>since some of it gets burned on the way to administer the program.

Hardly MORE of an uproar ...  The main argument for universality seems
to me to be administrative simplicity.  The rich don't care whether they
get these little bits of money or not, but if it costs more to separate
them out than it would to let them have the money, I'd prefer to let them
keep it.  I think that the amount of money involved is so trivial
compared to the deficit they are trying to reduce that the whole
thing is being played completely for symbolic politics.  Brian is
doing his usual smoke-and-mirrors trick, and the others are trying
to get the public to cough.

If a new government gets the reputation early on of stumbling, it's
easier to bring them down later.  If they are initially seen as firm
and confident, that reputation will stick to them in the face of their
inevitable later mistakes (for a while, anyway).  The opposition wants
to make sure that Joe Clark will continue to lose his luggage, whether
it has anything to do with the way the Government works or not.
-- 

Martin Taylor
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