Perhaps because I'm young, and I live in the U.S. and because I don't deal with high taxes (we actually just got a tax cut) I can't fully appreciate what you're saying.

I for one think my country needs more taxes, however with the caveat that I'm able to choose which services my taxes pay into, and where my money goes.

That's true democracy isn't it?

We ought to create a system in which programs that are actually popular amongst the people get the most funding, so that folks don't feel like they're getting robbed whenever they see the government taking a cut of their checks every two weeks.

The fact that our government can just cut certain programs willy-nilly, even if they're widely approved of by the public (like social security, our government retirement fund) is highly disturbing.

I'm not old enough to benefit from that pension, my parents aren't even going to see a nickel of it, lol. And yet money comes out of our paychecks every other week for a program that we don't get to use.

If we could actually choose which programs we funded, social security, education, and infrastructure would perenially be at the top (they always are in the polls).

Alas, that's just not the world we live in (yet).

Thought provoking stuff, great post :)