the disconnect.

I was recently with a financial advisor who said something along the lines of “It’s my job to make sure you pay the least amount of taxes you can. To basically work around taxes…” I was recently with a fairly wealthy individual who said, “Ryan, you don't get it. You can raise taxes but I’ll find ways to not pay them.”

But…

Both of these individuals complained about taxes being potentially raised on them.

And both of them hate debt.

It seems to be the same thing with masks and shut downs. Instead of just wearing a mask, people refuse and then complain that the government keeps shutting things down. Or they complain that shutdowns don’t work…. while people don’t follow the very rules of the shutdown.

What is this phenomenon? The cup is leaking and instead of plugging the leaks we create more leaks and then complain that the government makes a bigger cup to try and hold water for longer.

As Colbert said, it’s a bunch of people asking for a government handout for an election win, instead of pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and working for more votes in the next election, while complaining about lazy people getting government handouts…

The disconnect and hypocrisy is overwhelming.

I’m not saying the government is perfect by any stretch - but it’s just an extension of us. It’s not going to get better until we help it get better.

Right?

I don’t know if this is a uniquely American thing but it does seem to be uniquely worse here than other cultures. I suppose, at the end of day, it’s just selfish, short-term, individualistic thinking but, damn, it’s maddening.

I’ll add this to my 2021 list… less complaining, more contributing.