FHP,

Not so wow. And it requires cherry picking words and phrases for me to sound just like you. Overlaps in opinion occurs among liberals and conservatives all the time, and occasionally with radicals I suppose. I don't recall claiming that you have horrible opinions, although I wouldn't be surprised if you do. I think you're mainly Dark Side entertainment and make an effort to project way more of an assholish persona on the internet than in real life.

Further, it is logical that our opinions might occasionally overlap. I have an interest in science and am competent in math and somewhat competent in statistics. You're a philosophy major, and good philosophy majors are also good at math. I can bear the burden of association with you via common opinion because we both happen to understand how math works.

You claim that we all "should" pay less taxes. That isn't true. There is no particular amount of taxation that falls under the vague umbrella of "should." We should pay taxes in the amount that the collective we, as the body politic, determine is necessary to fund the various government functions that this same body chooses to have the government perform. Given the way our system of government works - which includes all the benefits and repercussions of lobbying Congress - we are likely being taxed at exactly the amount that the collective we has determined necessary.

Would I prefer that it were different? Hell yeah! But I'd have to be made benevolent dictator for that to happen. Slim chance of that. I'd love to eliminate a lot of corporate welfare and socialism for the rich, and I'd structure welfare for the poor to be more of a hand up than a hand out. Government benefits would be loaded with conditions and consequences, so my term as dictator would be very short, probably due to assassination.

I haven't seen a college loan forgiveness proposal that pencils out, but that doesn't mean that one couldn't be crafted. I think public education is beneficial enough to the nation so that it is worth its cost. Public education is one of the main contributors to creating the American middle class. Having a large American middle class is important because - the math! - as you pointed out earlier, taxing just the super rich doesn't raise nearly as much government revenue as taxing 100 million middle class Americans. A large and prosperous middle class better affords out ability to "promote the general welfare" as stated and envisioned in the U.S. Constitution. Vast prosperity generates lots of tax revenue which is necessary "to provide for the common defense," infrastructure in the form of roads and bridges, maybe even Amtrak, and education.

How much education should be publicly supported is something we could decide through critical analysis in terms of costs and benefits both individually and nationally. Someone mentioned in this thread the possibility of public funding for 2 years of community college or trade school. I think that is worth examining. For example, community college was publicly funded in CA until Reagan became the state governor, after he switched from being a Democrat to a Republican. (As a Republican he understood that the future success of the Republican party and its causes were dependent on a less informed electorate. Unfortunately, that also undermined the middle class and the government tax revenue stream, but those are another story.)

I bring up the community college and trade school options for public funding because too many people are going to college to become computer programmers, or philosophers, or Black studies, or Women's studies, or other majors that the nation can employ only so many of. And not enough people are entering essential trades like electricians, plumbers, carpenters, iron workers, various mechanics, and so on. The nation needs and can pay for workers who can keep the power on and the water running from source through use to sewer.

So the conversation about college loan forgiveness should be framed through the lens of objectivity. What's the point? Maybe the point is simply to garner Democratic Party votes from those who would benefit directly and individually from loan forgiveness. Much as I want to ensure Trump is never re-elected to anything, I don't support such a point. Better in my opinion to analyze and determine what we want for the benefit of the nation, promoting the general welfare, if you will. I want a population with a basic education that leads to an informed electorate, a population that recognizes ad hominem attacks for what they are, and logical fallacies, and a con artist and a grifter when they see one. This of course would bring about the ruination of both the Republican and Democratic Parties as they exist today. Voters who wouldn't be swayed by [Bleeeeep!] would be a tough crowd to lead.