Why should my hard earned money go to those less fortunate?

[Cecelia]

I find it a tad hypocritical to complain about the government spending your money on welfare... then complaining about people on welfare spending their own money however they like. Just because they have some money, doesn't mean they don't need help to buy things like groceries. Food Stamps and benefits help them buy the things they need--then they're free to do with their own money what they like. (No matter how much it irks conservatives)

We live in a thing called 'society', and our society works as well as it does because we have things like public schools and safety nets for the less fortunate. Those are just two of many pieces of a very complex machine we call American Society. And taking away one cog, changes how the whole thing works. We pay a price for living in society--and that price is in the form of taxes. They're not fully voluntary--so the price is (understandably) based on our income.

What we all do with our own money--that is money after taxes--that's up to us. What taxes are spent on by our government is also partially up to us, but we don't get to decide what portion goes to what. And it's probably a good thing--because then you'd have some seriously underfunded projects that could totally destroy how our society works.